The False Harlequin
by LazerTH
Summary: Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and their friend Lazer fight for Mobius against invading aliens led by one who claims to be the divine Harlequin!
1. Two families

THE FALSE HARLEQUIN

By LazerTH

 _For which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise and walk'?_

Matthew 9:5

Author's note: Sonic, Tails and their friend Lazer join forces to fight alien invaders... but the False Harlequin is pulling all the strings! Will they expose the truth in time?

Disclaimer: The Harlequin is owned by Wingless Rain. Lazer and his family are my creations.

888

The sounds of the city faded away in the sudden acceleration. The roaring wind pressed against Sally's face, streaming through her red hair. Then they were on the open plains between the city and the forest, the grass blurring into a uniform green sheet like the dice tables of Casino Night Zone.

"You still with me, Sal?"

She had her arms around his neck. "Just don't let go!"

Sally was lighter than an acorn in Sonic's arms. He ran with such breathtaking velocity; she was not sure that his red shoes touched the ground at all. He did not slow in the least when entering the Great Forest, but he hopped with her from tree to tree swifter than any monkey could swing. The damp earthy scent of soil and leaves was more familiar to Sally than the city's glittering air-conditioned comforts. She had spent most of her life here, hiding.

"We're really free, now, aren't we?" she asked. "Now that _he_ is gone, we can go anywhere, do anything…"

That cheeky grin marked his face. "Say the word, Sal, we'll move back into the forest. Or how about a cave?"

His legs cleared the forest floor, its browns and greens giving way to the grays and whites of the mountain range overlooking the Serene Ocean. Sonic traced a spiral path from the base to the peak of one mountain so quickly that the dust from his ascent had not cleared by the time he arrived on the peak, making the whole mountain look like a giant drill ready to pierce the heavens.

"Who says you can't do art?" Sally asked, looking down at his handiwork.

"Tails banned me from using paints after I turned the Tornado blue."

"Is that so. I'll have a talk with my nephew."

The bundle carefully strapped to Sonic's back, away from his sharp quills, wiggled her arms and feet, squealing.

"Did you enjoy the run, Paula?" Sally asked, climbing down from Sonic's neck to check on the infant.

Sonic looked straight ahead at the Sun rising over the sapphire sea, pouring its daily offering of molten gold onto the waves.

"I've never been happier, Sal," Sonic said, taking the wriggling furry squirrel child from her mother and holding her up in the sunlight. The child laughed, the sound echoing among the peaks. She had not heard an echo before, and looked around in wonderment to see who else was laughing. Paula's eyes were blue, like the sky, like his quills, like Sally's eyes. He saw his future in those tiny eyes, as the sunlight shone through her soft fur. Beside him, Sally smiled, wrapping an arm around his waist. She stood beside him and looked up at their daughter, too.

888

Far from the city sounds, the waves of the Serene Sea met the shore with ponderous thunderclaps. There was a different hedgehog standing there, with a different child in his arms. As it rose above the horizon, the Sun revealed the strange red colour of their quills, marking them as foreigners to this country of Grandia.

But the father, who his friends called Lazer, had suffered much to stand there with his infant son in his arms. He had fought with the Freedom Fighters in the name of the Acorn Kingdom to liberate Grandia from tyranny. They had won. It was over. All that remained was to rebuild the city, as New Mobotropolis, and reestablish trade with neighbouring territories. Lazer, however, was no good at diplomatic relations.

The sound of heavy footsteps on the sand behind him caused his long red quills to rise in annoyance.

"Every day, I tell you not to follow me, yet every day, here you all are."

He turned to cast a sidelong glance at the church congregation, standing with hands or paws clasped, gazing at him and his son.

One of the devout said with a loud voice, "Crimson Flame, please teach us the will of the holy sword!"

Lazer's voice was low but powerful. "It is neither holy nor a sword. R'Thrys chooses to look like one."

"At least show us its regal frame! Pluck it from the ether!"

"No. Go home."

Faces downcast, the congregation shuffled off the beach, leaving many trails in the sand. Between the footsteps trod another foreigner to Grandia, a red hedgehog like Lazer, but she was far more graceful in appearance. Her soft brown eyes checked his habitually furrowed red brow, beneath which burned two hard narrow black eyes, like twin obsidian stones floating in a river of lava.

Her voice was light and airy. "My husband Lazer, how fierce you look this morning."

He made a conscious effort to lower his quills and smile.

"My wife Rebecca, I was preparing to greet the Sun with Ashlar."

Rebecca gestured with both paws upheld, as though cradling the sky in her arms. "It has arrived, you and our son may proceed."

Lazer had changed the day he met their son for the first time. He was no longer constrained by his father's command to spare life, but by the pure love that grew and grew the more time he spent with his son. He knew that he could never again take a person's life. If he did, would he not be killing someone's child? Someone's parent? And where would be the wisdom and justice in that?

He greeted the morning sun with his son Ashlar safe in his arms. They were on the western shore outside New Mobotropolis, with the frothy foam of the Serene Ocean bubbling around his toes. The clean salt wind filled his lungs and he began to sing.

 _Singing._ For joy. It was his mother's song that echoed off the rocks, rolled over the seashells, then stretched up and out to herald the dawn.

 _Herald of the morning's chorus,_

 _Source of life in all the world,_

 _Shine your beams so bright before us,_

 _Golden wings of light unfurled._

 _Truly you have taught us mercy_

 _By your warmth shone free to all._

 _Pierce the dark and teach us to see_

 _Truth and wisdom in your call._

Rebecca picked up the tune from the second stanza, and together they sang for three more stanzas before the song ended. This was the song Lazer's mother sang at dawn every day for as long as she lived, and now he would do the same for as long as he lived, no matter what. He had a reason to sing, now. Ashlar squealed, his eyes bright, and Lazer knew - _without_ having to read his thoughts - that his son shared his joy.

Beside him, Rebecca placed her paws upon Lazer's shoulder, and leaned against him, her rock, who could not be moved.


	2. Harlequin song

Sonic had his chin propped up in a paw. Sally was sitting with them on the balcony of their apartment in New Mobotropolis, bathed in the light of the rising sun. She fed their daughter Paula with one paw and read the daily newspaper with her other.

"What's on your mind, hon?"

"Sal, on the way back from our morning jog I heard Red _singing._ He and Becky were on the seashore, he was holding Ash and singing to the _sun._ That really freaked me out."

"He's happy," she said, pausing to wipe Paula's mouth. The baby squirrel gurgled in her highchair.

"That's the _thing,_ Sal! How could someone change so fast? When he joined the Freedom Fighters he was the biggest downer on Mobius and now...!"

Sally put down her paper to look at him. "He's _happy._ Why is that so hard to understand?"

"You don't build a dark castle your whole life and then just... tear it down in a day! There are... skeletons, and dungeons and stuff, and...!"

"You're being silly, hon. We tore down Robotropolis in less than a year after Robotnik died, and he'd been in control most of our lives."

Sonic sighed. He looked at his paws. "I just... I just can't keep up."

Sally did not laugh. She listened. Paula waved her arms and legs.

"Tails is a teenage genius everyone wants working for them, Knux is a... king, I guess, since he bought Angel Island, and I'm..."

"Here?"

Sonic was wise enough to touch her paw and look into her eyes. "I don't mean it like that, Sal."

"I love you, Sonic. You and Paula are kingdom enough for me."

"What's gonna happen when you take your Dad and Mom's throne?"

"I'll handle it. Besides, royalty don't do anything these days. The mayor's in charge of the city, and when it gets big enough we'll elect a proper government. Then whoever becomes Prime Minister will be in charge, and I'll spend my time as Head of State at tedious formal ceremonies."

Sonic stared at her. "You have it all planned out already?"

Sally placed a paw over her heart. "Of course I do. I'm the boss!"

They shared a laugh at that. Paula did not understand what was funny but began laughing, too.

888

On the hill outside New Mobotropolis, Tails had been sitting on the roots of the tree for hours. The sun had set long ago. The night was moonlit but silent, the sleepless city glittering like earthbound stars in the distance. Tails did not fidget. He did not sigh. He did not let his mind wander. He sat there, on the tree roots, making himself as still and clearheaded as possible. This was no easy feat for the fox who had reverse-engineered almost every machine Robotnik ever built; the fox who had made it possible for the new city to rise from the ashes of Robotropolis.

His patience was rewarded. The Presence was _there_ in the space between heartbeats... perhaps he had always been there, watching all this time. Their exchange of greetings was short, their voices carried in the cold night wind.

"Harlequin."

 _"Tails."_

The whispery voice filled Tails' head and chest, like a cloud pressing against him inside and out. That same feeling was the reason the city had never expanded in this direction. It frightened away all the construction workers, but Tails wasn't afraid. Just respectful.

"Thank you again for your help."

 _"You are welcome. Congratulations on destroying the lich."_

The memory of pain was enough to make the fox flinch.

"D-Don't remind me of that... thing. I'm sorry. I'm not here to chat."

 _"Tell me what you want."_

"Don't you already know?"

 _"I do know. It is you who have to find out."_

Tails knew better than to argue, so instead he turned to look at the Harlequin. The black and white mask greeted him, its lone glowing blue eye meeting his two sharp blue ones. Its immaculate white and black suit shone in the moonlight - or did the moon shine in it?

Tails took a breath and said, "Are the aliens coming here a threat?"

The Harlequin stared at him. The mask seemed to smile.

 _"Clever boy. Noticed them already?"_

"I'm not stupid. After Deomorg - after that evil lich made planetfall - I upgraded my satellite and sent up a dozen more. Advance scout ships are scanning Mobius. I have no idea how long they've been there. I made no attempt to communicate with them because, frankly, I don't want to be an ambassador. I just like building things, you know?"

 _"You also like fixing things."_

Tails wanted to touch the Harlequin - who was more of a ghost than a man - but he remembered what happened the last time he did that and refrained. His left paw still felt cold when he held it up to the moonlight.

"Please tell me whether they're a threat."

 _"If you treat them as enemies, they will be."_

Tails groaned and sank his head into his paws.

"Mobius has suffered too many wars to just make friends and play along nicely. The madman Robotnik, the angry god Thanatos, the world-devouring Deomorg... and now aliens."

The whispery voice seemed to laugh. _"You will have so many new toys to play with."_

Tails did not have the courage to glare at the Harlequin, but he managed an accusatory frown, like a child would make when a parent made fun of him. "That does not make me feel better."

The Harlequin nodded. _"You seem troubled. Let me sing for you."_

Out of nowhere there was a violin and bow held in his elegant black gloves. The strings gave the night a voice and the moon a melody.

 _Strangers come from winter's dark:_

 _Invite them in for mercy's sake._

 _Give to them food and drink and warmth_

 _Invite them in and give your heart_

 _for mercy's sake._

As the Harlequin's song trailed off, a single tear rolled off Tails' whisker. The fox looked at the moon. How much more would Mobius give before Destiny and Fate were satisfied? Tails wiped his eyes.

"Thank you."

 _"If you need me, look here to my tree on my hill."_

The haunting strains of the violin followed Tails down the hill.


	3. Zanni

That night as Lazer slept, he had a dream. In it he was approached by a masked human. The human paused, tilted his head, looked the red hedgehog up and down, then cupped his chin in one hand.

"Greetings, fellow sapient being. I am known on my world as the Harlequin."

Lazer shook his head. "You look nothing like _our_ Harlequin. For one, your mask is the shape of the crescent moon."

The moon-faced man was silent and still for a moment. Then he snapped his fingers. "Ah, another like me lives with you? Then, for clarity's sake, you may call me Zanni. I am the leader of the Terran race - what you call 'humans' on your world."

Lazer performed a slight bow over his paws pressed together. "Well met. I am Lazer, a warrior."

Zanni bowed with one fist clenched over his heart. Both of them straightened up, then looked the other in the eye. Zanni gestured with one upturned palm. "I regret to inform you that, after careful observation of your planet, your strange weapon is the primary threat to the exodus of my people."

Lazer blinked, then tilted his head. "Explain how R'Thrys is a threat to you."

"Our local star died. Survival dictated our species' departure from our birth planet to colonise others. We have successfully colonised eleven worlds, and yours in the twelfth. Your governments won't take that well."

"You are all welcome to stay here as friends, not destroyers."

"Although we number in the trillions, killing is not our way. We only kill those we consider gods and monsters."

Zanni paused to give Lazer a steady glare.

Lazer took the hint. "R'Thrys, with the potential to kill planets, is worse than any god or monster. I am not willing to take life ever again, but my word is not good enough, not when measured against its terrifying might. Even so, there is room for trillions more on this planet, if resources are managed efficiently."

Zanni laughed. "If all governments were as reasonable as you, that would work. However, they're not. They know that in less than two generations, we will become the dominant species, and our descendants will oppress yours. Your governments will go to war, united against us. Their weapons won't harm us, but yours can. You will help them because you have a stake in their future."

Lazer nodded, folding his arms. He gave Zanni a cold stare that concealed extraordinary fires. "Ah yes, my son Ashlar."

Zanni did not flinch. He pronounced his words like a sober judge sentencing a damned criminal. "Thus it is best that I remove you from the cold equation so that the twelfth colonisation may succeed. I know that your weapon of mass destruction cannot act without your conscious mind, therefore you must die in this place between illusion and reality."

Zanni, the False Harlequin, reached out with an arm that stretched far longer than was natural. However, this being a dream, the laws of physics were unaware. Lazer stepped to one side and the insanely long arm stabbed the "ground", piercing through it like a blade. It swept towards him, breaking the "ground" as it went, but Lazer leaped over it and fired a burning bolt of Chaos energy at Zanni, whose body burst into flames.

With a sweep of his other arm, the False Harlequin extinguished the fire. He was unscathed, and continued his assault, chasing Lazer around this dreamworld with his reaching arms, destroying the "ground" wherever they went. Continued assault with fiery Chaos bolts proved ineffective, and eventually Zanni caught Lazer with both hands, his unnaturally long fingers wrapping all the way around the red hedgehog's smaller body.

"I am sorry, fellow sapient being. In another life, we would have been friends."

A third and fourth arm emerged from Zanni's sides. He touched his own forehead with his fingertips, eyes closed. A moment later Lazer screamed, staring at the dream sky, his body arced rigid as though struck by lightning. His brain was on fire. He felt it crumbling away, dust in the wind. Soon he would be an empty shell, with neither past nor future.

Dreamspace rippled. The sky - that was not a sky - gave birth to a fiery comet that shot downward, answering a need borne on the desperate cry of its wielder.

Then Zanni was screaming, because a new fire was burning his arms, one infinitely hotter than anything Lazer could manage with his five Chaos Emeralds. It was R'Thrys, the hollow greatsword, slicing through his arms where magical might had failed. The fingers gripping Lazer withered in the holy flames, and the red hedgehog caught the greatsword in one paw, holding it high above his head. He breathed. He had a mind again.

Zanni writhed, only the stumps of his arms remaining. "You are asleep. Your brain is emitting delta waves consistent with dreaming!"

Lazer opened his eyes. _There is no pain._ "R'Thrys does not answer my mind; it answers my _need,_ even here in my dreams."

He adopted the Triangle Stance, the same which had erased a world-eater akalich from existence. The way he leaned back and pointed the weapon forward formed a triangle with the ground of dreamspace. They were one: the wielder, the sword, and the world. "Tell me, Zanni. At the end of your hope, who will be with you? Who will comfort you when all your illusions are stripped away?"

Zanni waved his four arm stumps, shaking his moon mask face. "I just want my people to live, grow and flourish. Will you kill me for that?"

"They will do all these things, and you _will_ live, Zanni, but you will dream no more," Lazer said, then his voice thundered as voices can only thunder in dreams: "The Illusions of Night dispelled: LUCIDITY!"

A flash of brilliant, piercing light from R'Thrys blasted Zanni out of the dream realm and right back into his physical body. He awoke with a scream.

"Harlequin!" the nurse said, hurrying to his bedside. The low thrum of the starship's engines comforted him. The muted lights of the medical ward were familiar and calming. The nurse was also easy on his eyes, especially her soft warm hands pressed against his head and shoulder.

"I'm okay," he said, waving her worried hands away from his shoulder. Oh, good! His real body still had hands! He breathed. "This is a minor setback. That weapon of mass destruction is mighty, but it only guards him and _his_ dreams. I may enter the dreams of others without harm. It is distasteful, but I shall go with quantity over quality: I will neutralise the nations of that planet the next time I rest. It will be easier to neutralise _him_ when he has no moral support from friends and family who sleep without waking."

"Affirmative. Would you like breakfast?" she asked, her voice soothing, both hands held out, ready to help him up.

Zanni scratched his chin, glanced at the clock. "Nurse, it is three o'clock in the morning."

She just stood there, a lovely specimen of the Terran race, her hands willing and able.

He shrugged. "Why not?" He placed his hands in hers, and with surprising strength she pulled him to his feet and guided him to the galley. Zanni smiled when he realised that, although he was perfectly capable of walking on his own, she kept one arm around his waist and another on his upper arm.

Nerves made the False Harlequin unable to sleep for the next two days, but when he did he had already prepared his mind for the task ahead. Rendering an entire planet comatose would require several attempts, obviously, as large numbers of the population did not sleep depending on their time of day. There would be mass panic from the waking population, but everyone had to sleep sometime, no matter how hysterical. Sleep, like death, was inevitable.

It had worked eleven times, after all.

The False Harlequin awoke the next morning refreshed. He stretched, popping the joints in his neck and back.

"Well, then. How was that, nurse?"

She shook her head, the blonde locks shimmering like morning sunlight. "I am sorry, Harlequin. Your brain showed no sign of delta waves, nor did I detect Rapid Eye Movement."

"What? I must have been more perturbed than I thought. We shall try again next time."

"I will stay with you," she said. Zanni opened his mouth to protest this brazen act of selflessness, but he said nothing. He remembered the words of that red hedgehog warrior.

However, there was no 'next time'. Over the course of the next few weeks, the False Harlequin realised that he could not dream. He could not even daydream when his mind wandered away while staring out the viewport at the blue and green ball named 'Mobius' below. His mind was unresponsive to drugs that induced dreams; even recreational drugs had no effect.

He could not dream.

One morning the False Harlequin staggered out of his personal quarters, haggard and unwashed, having stayed awake for six days only to fall into dreamless slumber. The starship crew gave him a wide berth as he made his way to the command deck. There, the Admiral stood watch, his gloved hands clasped behind his ramrod straight back.

"Dream no more!" he shouted to the Admiral. "He declared that I would dream no more!"

Two men and one woman placed their hands on him, their faces marked with worry for their leader, but he was inconsolable.

"Harlequin...!" the Admiral called out, taking an uncertain step forward.

"NO!" he shouted, freezing the Admiral and everyone else in place. "I told him to call me... Zanni! That is my name, now! The moon-faced man, riven of dreams!"

Zanni collapsed onto the Captain's chair, weeping through his mask. As for his followers, what were they to do or think? This was the man who had conquered eleven worlds using naught but his mind.

"Har... Z-Zanni," a lady stammered. "You have helped us many times. Let us help you."

"How can I ask you to go to war?" Zanni replied, his fingernails raking the length of his mask. It did not come off. Maybe it couldn't.

"We know that you protected us by pacifying the colony planets, but we have not forgotten how to fight. We can do so again."

Zanni was quiet for several long minutes. Everyone on the command deck held their breaths.

Zanni gestured from the Captain's chair to the bright blue and green ball of Mobius on the main screen. "To war, then. To wrack and ruin."

His followers smiled. They repeated a centuries-old mantra. "We will fight, for die we must."

Zanni turned to the Admiral of his fleet.

"Admiral, I have failed you. Had I subdued the planet within Dreamspace, the invasion would have only taken six months. Now we speak of war. When will we be ready?"

"Five years, Ha- I mean, Zanni. Sir!" he said with a snap salute.

Zanni steepled his fingers, resting his chin on them. Mobius rolled through space before them. "Five long years. Five years with no dreams."

He slammed a fist on the armrest. He and his moon mask smiled. "So be it."


	4. Five years

Tails considered himself a self-taught fox, but he did not give in to pride. He conducted combat trials with Sonic as often as the blue hedgehog allowed him to. Fighting an opponent who could move faster than sound was a daunting task, even for a genius with lots of toys at his disposal. Robotnik had spent his lifetime trying to catch the Blue Bolt, and where he had failed, Tails was determined to succeed.

"That's not gonna work. Nor that. Not that either," Sonic said and easily dodged as Tails fired a regular handgun, then a laser rifle, then a grenade launcher at him.

"I wasn't even thinking about my movements, that time! I was completely spontaneous!"

"Little bro, you _can't_ surprise me. I can read your movements before YOU are aware of them. Even if you use weapons that fire at the speed of light, they just fire in a straight line I can predict with the position of your hands. Also, grenades are a poor choice..."

Tails pushed the pin back in. "Yeah, yeah, I know you can catch the grenade and throw it back to me mid-flight, just like you did with the arrows..."

"Come _on_ little bro, you know my weaknesses."

Tails counted his fingers. "Your weaknesses: Limited to running over or through land and water. You can't swim, and you sink like a rock. You can only hold your breath for 20 minutes, less if you're moving around. Your strengths: Super speed (and all that entails), and Chaos Control. When you Super Transform, you can fly and have increased abilities overall."

"Uh-huh. So?"

"Drowning won't work; Robotnik tried that countless times. Other than flying or going into outer space, I either get rid of the land or water, or make it impassable. Maybe zero-friction surfaces?"

"You're on the right track."

There was a red flash of light nearby. "Oh, oh! Do me!" Lazer said, holding up one paw. "Every superhero team does this in the cartoons!"

Sonic shook his head. Where had that dour, scary red hedgehog gone to? Here he was replaced by this smiling fool. Meanwhile, Tails grumbled, but he counted fingers again. "Your weaknesses: Anti-Chaos fields, or any anti-magic field, really. You're slow on foot. Using any Chaos power exhausts you quickly unless you have Power Rings. Your strengths: Fire powers, flight, minor telepathy, Chaos Control and kung fu."

"It's not kung fu; it's karate and kendo!"

"Whatever. When you go Super..."

"...Hyper!"

"Stop interrupting me! When you Super Transform, you have increased abilities overall. That's not your greatest strength, however. Your Divine Weapon, "R'Thrys", breaks all the rules and ends the game, no matter who or _what_ is playing against you."

Lazer wagged a finger. "That's not true. R'Thrys is limited by my willpower and imagination."

Tails absorbed this new knowledge for a few moments, tapping his chin. "Just like that ring-wearing guy from the comics, huh? Meaning that you're only limited by the amount of people whose willpower you can tap into. And with your below-average telepathy, that means only those who are in direct physical contact with you."

Sonic slapped Lazer on the shoulder. "The city folks are calling ya the ' _Crimson Flame_ ' after our victory against that evil wizard dude."

Lazer sputtered. "I don't like that nickname."

"A superhero codename, more like," Tails snickered.

"I don't wear a mask OR a cape!" Lazer protested. "I don't even have a secret identity!"

"Get used to it, Crimson Flame!" Tails laughed.

Sonic punched Lazer in the shoulder. It was like punching a wall of iron. That's why he hit him so often. "Yeah, Red! But you're _still_ Red, to me."

Lazer shrugged and said, "Well then, gentlemen. Combat training?"

"Hey, you CAN'T use that sword of yours!" Sonic said.

Tails held up one paw. "Speaking of which, Mr. Lazer: Now that you can kill planets with R'Thrys, aren't you classified as a god?"

Lazer's black eyes bugged out, then he laughed and shook his head. "Blowing up planets is a magic trick. Any fool with enough power can do it. A god isn't someone strong or clever. A god is someone who can provide redemption. For all my power, for all the enemies I have conquered, I cannot forgive a single sin."

Tails nodded, seemingly satisfied with that explanation. Then he frowned. "I have something to tell you guys."

He told them of the aliens who were scouting the planet. Neither hedgehog looked impressed.

"So uh, how long until their main force gets here?" Sonic asked.

"They can arrive at any time. But I don't think they will invade immediately."

Lazer raised his paw. "I, too, have a story to tell."

He told them of his battle within a dream with the False Harlequin.

"There are _more_ human aliens out there? I thought Deomorg wiped out his own people!" Sonic said, rubbing his temples.

"The Universe is big enough for _any_ probability. To be fair, we _do_ have humans on Mobius. If they're here, it's possible for them to exist elsewhere," Lazer said, counting off his fingers.

"So you stopped Zanni... You stopped _him_ from dreaming?" Tails asked.

"Permanently, yes."

"That's horrifying."

"I'm not proud of myself. I was desperate. Not even _you_ can withstand his psionics, Tails. That's why he went after me first... but enough of that. You have already calculated when their army will descend upon us."

Sonic blinked. "You're kidding, right? Tails only saw scout ships..."

"Even though they're really small, scanning and analysing those scout ships told me everything about their technology and tactics. Furthermore, judging from what Lazer said, this 'Zanni' is all about mental power. He depends on an army for muscle, and a big one takes a lot of time to assemble and train. Taking their advanced tech into account, and the size of Mobius, that means five years. They'll be here after five years."

"Then _we'd_ better train, too," Lazer said, cracking his knuckles.

"I hear ya. Heads up, Red!"

Sonic crouched and began to spin in place, setting up his signature, deadly Spin-Dash: the move that devastated armies and cut through metal as though it were cardboard.

Lazer balked, holding up his paws. "I'm not ready-"

 _VOOSH!_ **WHAM!**

" _OW!_ "

Tails sighed. "I'll get the first aid kit."

888

Five years passed. At the end of them, Paula was six years old and was able to run... just as fast as the other kids. Sally worried that Sonic would disapprove but there was no place in the Blue Bolt's heart for anything but love when it came to his daughter. He put her on his shoulders, she held on to his quills with both paws, then he ran until the very wind sang with Paula's excited screams and laughter.

Ashlar was five years old and he could fly... when his father took him and his mother flying. Rebecca braced herself for Lazer's doom and gloom but the Crimson Flame did not waste one moment of his time brooding. He filled every second spent with his son, with laughter, stories and song. When he was with his son and wife, the darkness was gone. When he flew with them over the clouds, one held in either paw, he was free.

Paula and Ashlar were, in short, the happiest children on Mobius... who just happened to have superheroes for dads. Their "uncle" Tails was the smartest guy on Mobius (a superpower in its own right), and he made all sorts of toys that they played with, whether he liked it or not.

One day Paula, Ashlar and Tails were in the fox's workshop in New Mobotropolis. The last five years had seen his meteoric rise to fame as the one who not only helped Sonic save Mobius numerous times, but who had also predicted the impending war. The Acorn royalty and the city's military were depending on Tails to guide them, and thus he was given near-infinite resources to work with, including a devoted staff.

Paula was resting on the Tornado's white and red starboard wing with her chin propped up by her paws. "Uncle Tails, how come you make all this stuff?"

Tails did not even look up from his work, giant wrench in hand. "By the end of this year, or the beginning of the next, the human aliens will fall from the stars and bring war to Mobius."

Ashlar was dangling from his legs upside down, his knees hooked over the edge of the Tornado's port wing. "Dad will just kill them all, right? He has that sword..."

Tails' voice cut across, clear and cold. "Wrong. Your father swore thousands of times since you were born, that he would not take another life. It has caused me, the Acorn royal family, the military _and_ the citizens no end of worry. The argument against his mercy, is that the invaders will show us none."

Ashlar snorted. "How do you know?" he asked, swinging back and forth with his paws inches from the floor. Scowling, Paula pushed his shoe, causing the little red hedgehog to lose his grip and crash onto the dirty, oily floor of the workshop.

"OW!"

"You dumdum! A war isn't a game in the playground! People get hurt! People die! Mommy told me all about the wars that happened before I was born!"

"Yeah I guess so," Ashlar grumbled, rubbing his head, making no attempt to get up because as a five-year-old boy he could not care less about hygiene. Instead, he made an oil angel on the filthy floor.

Tails continued calibrating the machine with his giant wrench. "Your father will change his mind when he sees our people getting hurt and dying. He'll have to."

"It's a good thing Uncle Sonic doesn't care about killing, huh?"

Tails snorted. "It's a good thing _I_ don't care for killing, either."

Paula sighed loudly. "Can we NOT talk about killing for one afternoon? Uncle Tails, what's that thing you're doing?"

"It's a new part for my Super Robot. It'll let me talk to _them_."

Ashlar and Paula both started at this, their eyes wide as saucers. "TALK to them? The aliens? Why?"

Tails stopped calibrating for a moment. His eyes could see any flaw, no matter how small. His eyes saw the flaws in most everything that existed on Mobius. He now cast that formidable, critical blue gaze at the children. They shuddered in spite of themselves. "What if your father is _right_ , Ashlar? What if we can fight a war where _no-one_ dies?"

888

It was one of those rare afternoons when the sun was not too harsh and the wind was not too cold. Lazer, Rebecca and their son Ashlar were exploring the Marble Gardens ruins. It was the site of many battles in both the distant and recent past, most notably the multiple wars against Robotnik. But bloodshed and horror were things of the past, for now.

"Here," Lazer said, "you can see where Uncle Sonic destroyed a Badnik. See the gashes on the stone his quills left?"

"And the oil," Ashlar continued. "The Badnik died, right?"

Lazer smiled, his face glowing with hope. "Uncle Sonic never killed anyone. Not a one. He found a way to defeat entire armies of Badniks and free all the creatures trapped inside the metal shells. They and their families still live here and there, wild and free."

"My husband, you wish to do the same?" Rebecca asked, her paw warm and calm in his strong, heavy grip.

"My wife, the time for wishing is nearing its end. I _must_ find a way _._ But, death is not the way."

Rebecca touched his cheek. "Your sword can't spare life, can it?"

Lazer's words tolled with grim finality. "No, my dear. A divine weapon does not _fight_ wars; it _ends_ them."

Ashlar jumped onto Lazer's other arm. Lazer caught and held him easily.

"You're afraid of it, aren't you, Daddy?"

Lazer stopped walking. His jaw dropped a little. "I... I _am_ afraid of it. Of what it's done, of what I could become."

Having discovered this (epiphanies were his Daddy's weak point), Ashlar felt important. "You shouldn't be afraid of anything, Daddy. You're the Crimson Flame!"

Lazer continued walking, dangling Ashlar from one arm, holding his wife's paw with the other. The sunlight shone through their red quills, casting sharp scarlet shadows on the ancient boulders. "I know how to drive away fear, but even so, I'll have to think about that."

"You'll know when the time's right," Rebecca said. She winked. "You've winged it so far."

Lazer laughed. It did not feel so strange to laugh, these days.


	5. Mercia

The war-torn city of Mercia was restless at night, but even the most hardened soldiers need sleep. In bombed-out tenements and abandoned office buildings, there was a few hours' respite from the fighting.

Sergeant Kyle "Rough" Rider and Private Fiona "Prickly" Pearson were sharing a ration bar, huddled under the roof of what used to be a coffee shop.

"It'll be dawn in four hours," Rough said. Even though he was eating, his assault rifle rested on the sling in one hand.

"I'll take first watch," Prickly said. She was down to a handgun; her rifle had been destroyed two days ago during an enemy ambush. She'd cracked open a filthy wolf skull, but it had taken a few tries, and afterward the rifle was useless. Bloodstained, too, but blood was easier to replace than a gun.

"I appreciate it. Prickly, you know what to do -"

"- if a furry approaches. Shoot it first, wake you up later. Sweet dreams, Sarge."

Rough smiled. She was a good kid. Bit bloodthirsty, but weren't they all? He leaned against a splintered coffee table and closed his eyes. Sounds of war muted by distance. The smell of smoke confused with the weird peanut-chocolate blend in his mouth. The face of his son.

The alien voice in his head.

Rough sat up. By the rigid look of her, Prickly heard it, too. There was a voice speaking. It was calm, low; the voice you'd expect from a mother talking to her child.

The strange thing was that everyone in Mercia - whether in the air, on land, or underground - heard it speaking. The popping gunfire, booming mortars and humming engines did not reduce its perfect clarity.

 _"Citizens of Mercia, I am the leader of the Terrans. We are a human race from another planet similar to yours. You may call me Zanni. I am transmitting this message directly to your minds. Please consider my offer."_

Zanni paused for effect. In showbiz, timing is everything, even if you were a disembodied voice speaking to a city at war.

 _"I have heard your suffering. You fight over the Emerald Lake, a rich source of Chaos Emeralds and Power Rings. However, that ends tonight."_

On the other side of the continent, in New Mobotropolis, an alarm went off in Tails' workshop. Red lights, klaxons. His assistants dropped everything and sprinted to the monitors. An image appeared onscreen that froze the heart in their chests.

"Mr. Tails, a Cruiser-class starship just dropped out of hyperspace above Mercia!"

Tails' jaw dropped. "It's too soon! My calculations..."

Back in Mercia the dark, smoky city was filled with blinding light and deafening sound. When their senses returned, the Emerald Lake - a body of water both deeper and larger than the city - was gone. In its place was a molten crater, an inverted volcano that would take weeks or months to cool down. It was a sucking wound on the planet itself. Impossibly - or rather, improbably - the city itself was undamaged by the blast despite its proximity and insane energy output.

 _"Your war is ended. We have destroyed the source of the Lake's magic by killing a piece of your planet's soul. At the same time, our technology shielded your city from our own weapon. This demonstration has a purpose: we will not kill sapient life, but we will colonise Mobius. Chaos Emeralds will go the way of fossil fuels: replaced by a superior power source; our own."_

Zanni once more paused for effect. Always give your audience time to think.

 _"If you wish to join us, you need only think it, and we will transport you. You will be safe with us. You will be free to leave us, as well. The choice is yours."_

The mind link ended. But thoughts roiled in Mercia's head.

Prickly lowered her handgun. Her voice was trembling, like the first time Corporal Justin took her dancing. "Can you believe this, Sarge?"

Rough turned his head and spat. "I heard it but I don't believe it. Nobody could blow up that lake! We tried for years, even the furries tried lots of times..."

Prickly raised her head. "We're at street level but I can see it glowing out there. See the clouds?"

There was so much heat coming out of that colossal crater that it was visible, reflected off the smoke and ash and cloudy sky above. Even Rough had to admit it. He got up, unslung his assault rifle, handed it to Prickly.

"I'm going."

"What, Sarge?"

Sergeant Kyle Rider drew himself up to his full height, towering over the girl. "Private Fiona Pearson. I am defecting. Goodbye."

The assault rifle was dead weight in her hands. She stared at him with those golden brown eyes. "But why?"

"Corporal Justin, that's why. Damn it, he was my son and your husband. He died for that accursed Emerald Lake, and now it's gone. The curse is broken. He can rest now and so can I."

Prickly reached out her hand to him. "I don't want you..."

Rough disappeared in a column of blue-white light. He was with the Terrans, now.

"...to leave me too."

888

An emergency meeting was held at Acorn Castle, deep in the Great Forest. Six hours had passed since the Mercia Event.

"MONTHS ahead of schedule!" King Acorn roared, causing Antoine to cringe. Queen Acorn touched her King's shoulder, and he relaxed somewhat.

She addressed those standing before her. "Sonic, Tails, Lazer and... where is Knuckles?"

Tails stepped forward. "In hiding with the Master Emerald, your Majesty, somewhere on Angel Island. It's more than seven-point-six million square kilometres of airborne continent, so not even the Terrans will be able to find him easily."

"The Super Emeralds have been stolen."

The trio stared aghast. "When?"

"The moment Mercia's Emerald Lake was burned off the map. The seven thefts were conducted with surgical precision, each thief working alone, using Terran teleportation technology and weapons. Only three managed to capture the theft on video."

The Queen handed Tails a tablet computer.

"Knuckles should never have sold them," Sonic grumbled.

"Well, Angel Island _is_ the most valuable real-estate on Mobius, and as its owner, he helped our war effort immensely during the last few years," Lazer said.

"Be quiet, I'm trying to look at these!" Tails said, waving his paw at the blue and red hedgehogs. They leaned over his shoulder.

The first video was inside a massive treasure vault; the kind you would see on those cheesy bank heist films. The three-foot-thick steel door was no obstacle, however, as the thief materialised _inside_ the vault itself, where the Super Emerald lay. The thief wore a blue and white military combat uniform, complete with camouflage headgear, jacket, trousers and boots.

"They're capable of hyperspace transport but their combat gear looks ancient, like 21st century stuff," Tails muttered.

The thief simply touched the Super Emerald, and both disappeared in a blue-white column of light.

"Don't need to dress fancy if you can do _that_ ," Sonic snickered.

The second video had the Super Emerald on display in a posh art gallery, sitting within a glass case, surrounded by armed guards. The Terran thief calmly walked towards his target, bullets bending away from his body, hitting the walls and floor instead. He lifted his hand and the guards stumbled, falling backward. They didn't get up.

"Dead?" Lazer whispered.

"No, they were stunned for about an hour," the Queen responded.

The third video had the Super Emerald as the centerpiece of an enormous, seven-tiered swimming pool built in the image of the legendary jewel itself. There was a pool party in progress with almost as many bikinis as there were drinks. The Terran appeared, lifted a drink off a passing tray and walked on water. The pool froze solid where he walked, including the miniature waterfalls separating the tiers. By the time he finished the drink, he was at the top. He placed the glass gently on the polished marble tile, thanked the dismayed host, and disappeared with the centerpiece.

Tails almost threw the tablet computer against the wall, but remembered his manners (and who wrote some of his cheques) and returned it undamaged.

"They're so arrogant!" he half-shouted.

"What do they want?" King Acorn asked, feeling quite left-out.

"Ze Mercians are calling it 'Ze Rapture', treating an act of war like a religious event! Half ze city has defected to ze Terrans, human and furry alike!" Antoine reported.

"I have eyes and ears in that city, too. They don't want war. They want to colonise Mobius," Tails said, "and there is nothing we can do to stop them. Lazer?"

Lazer stepped forward. "Your Majesties. The truth is that the Terrans are capable of destroying Chaos Emeralds and Power Rings. Whatever weapon they used, I felt a piece of Mobius _die_. A colossal amount of formless Chaos energy dissipated into the sky and land. Chaos energy is the lifeblood of Mobius. If they destroy the Master Emerald..."

"...it would be the end of our world," Sonic said. "That's why Knux is hidden. As Guardian, he can make the Master Emerald smaller or bigger when he needs to. Those Terrans won't be able to sense it as long as he hides."

The King and Queen breathed easier. "Good. Now, as for the war effort..."

"That's a terrible idea."

"Mr. Lazer!" Tails said, shocked.

"Do not interrupt ze King!" Antoine shrilled.

"Wait, wait, you have something to say?" King Acorn prompted, grabbing Antoine by the collar before the coyote could brandish his fencing blade.

Lazer cleared his throat. He looked at Sonic and Tails, but his friends had both arms folded with the same frown. They had put up with him a lot, and he was grateful, but he had to speak. He turned to his King. "Your Majesty. We are at odds with a species whose technology far outdoes _both_ our tech and magic. They are _beyond_ our methods of war. I suggest peaceful negotiation."

Both Sonic and Tails threw their paws into the air, rolled their eyes and turned away from him in perfect synchronisation. They'd gotten ignoring him down to an art over the years.

King Acorn blinked slowly, raising both paws but then lowering them. "Even if they are not killing thinking creatures like you and me, they are killing our planet. Just like Robotnik, just like Thanatos, just like Deomorg. Or have you forgotten the wastelands left in their wake?"

Lazer turned to stone where he stood. He had stopped breathing, and his obsidian eyes stared straight through the king and at the nightmarish memory of Xadra's last day, drowning in nuclear fire.

"Dear," Queen Acorn interjected, placing her paw on her King's cheek. When he looked into her eyes, he knew he had gone too far. He turned, signaled Antoine, then both of them left the audience chamber.

Lazer looked at them leave. He took a shaky breath. "No," he said in a soft voice. "I have not forgotten."

"We must fight them," the Queen said. "Not for our dignity, or even our loved ones, but for our planet itself. They have wounded the living soul of our world and, as Queen, I will not let that stand. Even if you do not help us, Crimson Flame, we will fight. History will judge us."

Lazer turned to Sonic and Tails, but they still had their backs to him. So he turned again to the severe countenance of his Queen. "That's the problem, your Majesty: history is written by the victors."


	6. To war!

The next morning, the Terran Cruiser descended from orbit. It landed in the glass desert east of Mercia, a few kilometres from the burning crater they had blasted into Mobius the day before. The sun reflecting off the glassed ground was so bright that Zanni had to shield his eyes.

"So this is the handiwork of the Divine Weapon, eh?" Zanni said, staring out at the crystalline wastes stretching eastward beyond the horizon.

The Admiral stood beside him, but facing the other direction. He stood at ease. "Scouts following the movements of the akalich 'Deomorg' reported that he battled the champions of Mobius in this place. He did not win."

"We shall share the same fate if we push the champions too far. Is this gamble worth the risk?"

"There is no other habitable planet for light-years in every direction. We checked."

"We've colonised eleven planets so far but there will never be enough. Mobius is supposed to be our twelfth. Our Zodiac. Our Midnight Hour. Our December. It may be our grave."

"Then our civilisation shall have to make do on the other eleven planets, sir."

Zanni laughed. There was no humour in the harsh sound. "You don't understand. That Divine Weapon can destroy worlds, scattering their atoms across the galactic trade winds. At least a supernova leaves behind a lump of impure metal, or a black hole adds the mass to its own. No. That sword - R'Thrys - does not even leave behind a memory. Deomorg found out the hard way."

The Admiral shook his head. "Our scouts, who were lucky enough to glimpse through the Chaos portals, reported seeing his seven 'death worlds' suddenly exploding - sorry, _disintegrating_ \- but as the planets were located in a foreign galaxy, we are unable to verify."

Zanni turned away from the unbearable brightness outside, looking sideways at the Admiral. "There's no need; I believe them. I watched the recording myself. Their Chaos Emeralds allowed them to open trans-galactic space-time portals leading directly to each 'death world', then R'Thrys did the rest."

The Admiral moved only his eyes to meet Zanni's. "With all due respect, we can do that too, sir."

Zanni held up open palms, shrugging. "I was making a point, Admiral. As long as they have Chaos Emeralds, they can find our civilisation wherever we run to."

The Admiral sighed, breaking his posture. He struck his open palm with a fist. "I do not think that the champions of Mobius are planet-killing maniacs. There were no living things on Deomorg's 'death worlds', and the akalich himself was neither alive nor dead."

Zanni traced the crescent moon outline of his mask with one finger. "Desperation, my dear Admiral, drives good men to do terrible things. And we will make them desperate, sooner or later."

In the desert, the Cruiser unfolded itself like an origami eagle, spreading its wings and embracing the vitrified soil of Mobius.

888

When he returned to his workshop in New Mobotropolis, Tails' assistants were hard at work monitoring Mobius for Terran incursions. One assistant showed him the image onscreen.

"Their ship is now a building platform."

There was a small city being built upon the Cruiser's remains. It already covered several square kilometres! Tails could see the beginnings of streets, buildings, and even utilities, with Terrans moving among them. Some of them were even wearing civilian clothes!

"I really need to learn how to do that," Tails said. "A city in a day. Would put so many people out of a job, we'd have to invent new ones!"

"What is their power source, sir?"

"Dark Matter and Dark Energy, which together constitute about 95% of the universe. They figured out how to manipulate _both_ without destroying themselves... and everything else within the galaxy. I thought the fusion power plant I built some years back was clever, but that only uses the remaining 5%!"

His assistant paused at this, trying to process something so far beyond her understanding of conventional Physics that she could easily pass it off as magic. However, like a true professional, she retained her composure. "Your fusion utility powers our city. You mean _their_ dark... power source is even more potent?"

"Like comparing the Sun to a cabbage, and I don't like being the vegetable in this equation! I have no idea how they did it, but I'm going to find out, even if I have to blow up a few star systems in the process."

When their boss got an idea in his head, his assistants knew they had to stay out of his way; ethics and morals be damned. "You... you don't mean that, sir?"

"Don't worry; I'll make sure they're uninhabited first. Keep me posted. I have giant robots to calibrate."

888

The sentry tower stood at the western outskirts of the newly-built Terran city, which was still growing and expanding eastward in the opposite direction of Mercia, creeping over the glass desert at a steady pace. In a few days it would be larger than Mercia itself, and that city had had hundreds of years to grow.

Zanni dangled his feet over the edge of the lookout point, sipping a 'beergarita'. This refreshing blend was a marriage made in heaven between hard liquor and beer, made from ingredients farmed on Terra itself. But Terra was far, far away in another solar system on the edge of the galaxy. He was on Mobius now, and there was an army of natives approaching their position.

"Their fighter jets are inbound, thirty seconds," the Admiral said, holding a pair of binoculars on the horizon.

"Bombing run?"

"Yes, sir."

"And the Champions?"

"The tip of the spear. Five minutes."

Zanni put down his beergarita then held up his own binoculars. The natives' land army was approaching from the northeast and southeast because they had to go around the great lava crater that used to be Emerald Lake. He could see giant robots leading the charge, followed by thousands of infantry in smaller vehicles, then the artillery support coming up the rear.

"One of the Champions is riding his personal mecha, and the other two are standing on its shoulders."

Both men put down their binoculars and looked at each other.

"Shall I summon the others, sir?"

Zanni smiled. "Please do. They've earned it."

He sipped his beergarita. Really took the edge off.


	7. Champions

Sonic stood with arms folded, tapping his foot, frowning at the alien architecture. In the harsh desert sun everywhere gleamed metal - the buildings, the streets, the plazas - reminding him of Robotropolis. Except Tails said these invaders were even smarter and more powerful than the late Ivo Robotnik, and Tails was never wrong.

"I got a bad feeling about this, little buddy."

Seated within the cockpit, Tails sighed. "You always say that." Of course, Sonic was never wrong about his bad feelings, either.

On the mecha's other shoulder, Lazer stood with fists clenched at his sides. R'Thrys was conspicuously absent. Even though the divine greatsword was but a thought away from Lazer's paw, it made Tails uneasy. He knew Lazer understood war, but that new family of his had made the red hedgehog... soft? And that was a bad thing? Tails shook his head. He had had five years to philosophise and it was too late now.

Tails' comm. link beeped. The General of the Mobian Army spoke to him. _"Sir, three Terrans emerged from that sentry tower."_

"Three? Including their leader?"

 _"No; he's still sitting in plain sight on the tower itself. Shall I take the shot?"_

"That's not my call to make. I trust your judgement, General."

A few seconds passed. There was no sniper fire. The fighter jets passed over the city but no bombs fell, nor were the jets attacked. Tails nodded. "Okay Sonic, Mr. Lazer, that means we're allowed to go first."

The Mobian Army halted its advance while the giant robot carrying Tails, Sonic and Lazer strode forward, its massive feet crunching the glass to splinters. They met the Terrans halfway between the army and the city.

Two Terrans in combat uniform flanked their ranking officer: the one wearing a fancy hat, pressed jacket and clean white gloves. "I am Admiral Mun Roe of the Terran Navy, 103rd Fleet."

"Where's your boss?"

"You may address me in his stead."

"Then I'm Tails, this is Sonic and that's Mr. Lazer, who met your boss earlier."

To his credit, the Admiral did not break composure. "Well met. These are Commanders..."

"Hi, I'm Zamhareer!" the second Terran said. He didn't look human; his skin was brick red, and his eyes had unsettling white irises.

"Conley," the third Terran said with a nod. He was a giant of a man, head and shoulders above the other two. His skin was ash grey, his eyes were large orange orbs. He didn't look human, either. Only the Admiral looked normal with his slight, wiry build.

"Indeed," Mun Roe said while removing his gloves and tucking them carefully inside his jacket. He then saluted his enemies. "Champions of Mobius! We are your opponents. If you best us in combat, we shall abandon our colonisation of your planet."

Lazer held up his paws. "Explain."

Mun Roe's eyes flashed. "Your victory is assured if you use R'Thrys to kill us. Not even our leader could defend against it."

"I will not use lethal force," Lazer replied, "even if it could avert war."

"Why?"

"When I was younger, an evil man took everything away from me: family, friends, country. I hated him, then I killed him, but after that, I was truly hollow inside. Since then I found a better way; a way to fill the emptiness. To kill again is to betray everything that I am."

Lazer turned his head and nodded at Tails.

The orange fox nodded back. "CHAOS CONTROL!"

Golden light flared upward and outward, such that the army and the enemy had to shield their eyes. The sunburst resolved into the three glowing forms: Super Sonic, of the golden quills; Super Tails, the golden fox at the controls of his golden, 60-foot tall Super Robot; and Hyper Lazer, the armour-clad red knight. However, the latter was not holding his divine weapon.

In response, Admiral Mun Roe turned towards the sentry tower where his leader sat, feet dangling.

"Can we?" he asked with wide eyes and a broad smile.

Zanni replied with a nonchalant wave of the hand. He was concentrating on his beergarita. The desert had shriveled up his throat and nose. They itched all the way down to his belly. The beergarita was wet and long and cold. It required his attention.

The Super Trio took one step backward as the Terran Champions activated their own super mode: Zamhareer became encased in a white iceberg, then it shattered with a wave of his hand and he was wearing a bright red and blue leather suit, his long blue hair falling to his shoulders amidst falling snowflakes. Conley clenched both fists and burst into orange flames, the army uniform turning to ashes, revealing the dark gray and red suit of metal armour beneath that covered him from head to toe like a steel fortress. Mun Roe, their superior, drew two guns from his jacket with a flash of purple light, then the formal military uniform was gone. In its place he sported sleek metal armour coloured dark purple and gunmetal gray.

"They're... superheroes!" Super Tails blurted out as he stared at the colourful trio.

"No; supervillains. Just like the comics," Lazer snickered in spite of himself.

"Where are their capes?" Super Sonic said.

"Villains don't wear the cape," Hyper Lazer said. "It's how you tell the difference."

Super Sonic blinked. He looked down. "We don't wear capes."

Hyper Lazer raised one finger but then lowered it. "That's... look, enough talk!"

He chose Zamhareer and charged. Super Tails made his Super Robot jump towards Conley. That left Super Sonic with Mun Roe.

From the perspective of the Mobian army, the battle was over within a few seconds, but so many things happened so fast that they could not comprehend it.

Hyper Lazer opened with a flying kick that blasted through an arctic fog, hitting nothing but dirt. A cold wave struck him in the back, freezing the air itself and gumming his quills together. He repulsed it with a blazing aura of Chaos energy, whirling around to fire a heat beam at the source. Ice and fire warred with each other in midair, simultaneously melting and freezing the ground between the combatants. Ice won, and froze Hyper Lazer in an iceberg, but the red knight cracked free with another Chaos energy burst, showering the battlefield with rain, steamy clouds and huge hailstones.

However, that small moment let Zamhareer close the gap: with a sword of ice in hand, he slashed clear through the Chaos Armour, wounding the red hedgehog beneath, even though his skin was harder than diamond in his Hyper form!

Falling from the sky, the Super Robot's fist met Conley's with a tremendous boom, forcing the Mobian army to cover their ears. The second fist came screaming down from the heavens to meet Conley's other fist with another boom. They traded hundreds of punches within seconds, each contact producing a shockwave to break the earth underfoot. In the midst of the furious flurry, Conley slipped past the giant fists to land a solid uppercut on the robot's chin. Hurled upward, the Super Robot used the range to fire everything it had: hunter-seeker drones, HVAP rockets, railguns firing depleted uranium slugs, cluster bombs, and particle beam cannons.

Conley leaped heavenward like a human cannonball, avoiding the artillery devastation below. The drones followed him but their comparatively smaller munitions pinged off his armour. Super Tails fired both rocket fists upward at him. Conley swept his hands outward in the twin curves of the yin-yang, catching and deflecting both rocket fists with the first circular movement of his hands, then during the second circular motion he clenched one fist and dove downward, punching the Super Robot in the gut and smashing it into the ground so hard that its torso ruptured and split in half.

Super Sonic could move fast enough to make the air explode from friction alone, but his natural mastery of Chaos Control allowed him to slip through hyperspace "between" time and matter, not only eliminating friction but allowing him to move at near-light speeds within atmosphere without destroying everything in his wake. Curled into a spiky ball, he performed an aerial spin dash at a fraction of light speed, intent on finishing Mun Roe with one move...

...then bounced off. _Hard._

Super Sonic was rather confused to find himself in low orbit. He oriented himself, then performed another spin dash, right on top of Mun Roe's head this time. He bounced off, then was in low orbit once more. He did this several hundred times before he realised that the Terran Admiral had some kind of repulsion field around him, a shield so powerful that it even blocked attacks from hyperspace!

"Okay, you think you're clever," Super Sonic muttered to himself. This time he attacked from below, tunneling through the ground in a wide arc until he erupted beneath Mun Roe in a fountain of dirt and bright golden quills. This time his enemy bounced off _him_ , the Terran Admiral shooting almost into outer space, covered in flames from air friction.

"Hah! Take th-WHOA!"

Super Sonic was yanked out of hyperspace and upward through the atmosphere with such incredible violence that he almost passed out from the vertigo. Nothing held him. The invisible pull seemed to emit from Mun Roe's outstretched hand!

"You're _magic?_ I thought you Terrans were all about science!"

"We are. I manipulate gravity; the force that binds the cosmos together. I can channel this cosmic force into my guns."

So said, Mun Roe pointed one of them at Super Sonic and pulled the trigger. The hedgehog wanted to laugh. Bullets? He could dodge bullets in his sleep. He saw a simple bullet emerged from the barrel...

...a simple bullet traveling at a fraction of light speed.

The crater Super Sonic made when he hit Mobius was almost as spectacular as the fireball and earthquake that followed.

Hyper Lazer shook his head. The Chaos Armour dematerialised from his body like a cloud of red fireflies. Lazer, with both paws held over the gash in his chest, hobbled over to the crater then peered over the edge.

"Sonic, you dead?"

"Yes. You are speaking to a zombie." Super Sonic floated out of there, a nasty bruise on his chest. "You look dead yourself."

The red hedgehog looked down at his still-bleeding wound. "Give me a few minutes."

"Fight's over?"

"You're the only one still powered up. Tails got knocked out."

Lazer sank to one knee. The golden hedgehog drew near to support him, an arm under the shoulder. There was an urgency in Lazer's eyes that his friend did not understand.

"Sonic, thanks for teaching me Chaos Control. Over the years I learned something new. It is a gift for you and Tails."

Lazer placed one paw upon the golden forehead, stretching out his other paw at the wreckage where Tails lay.

"Chaos Control," Lazer whispered. "Chaos Siphon!"

A red glow appeared in both places, then faded. Lazer grinned, then sagged deeper. His friend held him, a frown on his face.

A shout came from the Acorn army. "SIR!"

The hedgehogs turned to watch a small group of combat medics race towards them. They practically tackled Lazer and shoved him onto a stretcher.

"Hey!"

"SIR DO NOT MOVE!" one of them shouted. "YOU'RE BLEEDING OUT!"

"Thanks, I didn't notice."

While they fussed, Super Sonic glanced at the wreckage of Tails' super robot - which had depowered along with its pilot - where a team of medics were evacuating the orange fox from the battlefield. What really worried him were the three Terran champions jogging over to him.

Super Sonic put up his dukes. He was the last one left. "Bring it on!"

Zamhareer waved both hands and shouted, "I apologise!"

Conley bonked him on the head with one giant fist. "You've gotten us all in trouble!"

Zamhareer sputtered as though the greatest indignity imaginable had been inflicted upon his person. "OW! I told the natives that I'm sorry!"

"That isn't enough!" Mun Roe silenced his men. He tilted his head to one side and closed his eyes. "I'm calling him."

Both Zamhareer and Conley groaned. A moment later Zanni popped into existence in front of them. He took one look at Lazer's injury (the medics were professionally ignoring everything but their patient, who was looking on at the scene with great interest) and rounded on Zamhareer, fists clenched.

"NO LETHAL FORCE!" he roared, warping his crescent moon mask.

Zamhareer took a step back. "Sir...!" he yelped, his face quivering like a beaten dog's.

Zanni's eyes were live coals burning through his subordinate. "Rules of engagement, Commander! What are they?"

"To preserve life and rebuild if necessary."

"REBUILD!" he thundered, pointing at Lazer. Zamhareer tilted his head, glanced toward the Terran city, then Lazer disappeared in a flash of blue and white light!

Super Sonic and the medics glared at Zanni. He let their hatred and anger buffet and pass over him like the desert wind. His voice was calm. "Your current medical science would not have saved him. We will."

"You took him as a prisoner of war!" Super Sonic yelled.

"With his divine weapon R'Thrys, there is no force in the cosmos that can keep him prisoner against his will," Zanni reminded him. "However, if he fights us or teleports back here, he will bleed out. He is hearing our conversation right now inside our city's medical facility. Let's wait and see what happens."

The Terrans and Mobians practised staring each other down for a full minute. There was no flash of Chaos Control energy, no explosion of divine fire from the Terran city. Lazer chose to stay!

Super Sonic stared down at his fists, feeling a little betrayed but relieved for his friend all the same. "You win." He powered down to his normal blue self.

Zanni clapped his hands once. "I am glad we had this fight. We learned more about each other! Let's return to our homes and think about peace."

Sonic smirked. "Army's not here for peace." He jerked his thumb at the Mobian army, which was advancing towards the Terran city.

Zanni smiled and his mask smiled along with him. "That was not a suggestion." He lifted one hand and green light emerged from his graceful fingertips. He drew a strange and twisted rune!

Sonic's breath caught in his throat. "You can't be-"

Zanni's grin grew wider beneath his moon mask. He was the man in the moon. "I am the Harlequin."

Sonic, Tails, the medics and their grand army vanished into thin air, then only the Terrans and their city remained.

"What now, boss?" Conley said, looking out over the empty desert.

Zanni sniffed. He looked to the west where Mercia lay silent.

"We are going to hunt down that imposter the natives spoke of - the one _they_ call 'Harlequin'. I understand that he rules Mercia, and that he survives more than two thousand assassination attempts per year."

Mun Roe cleared his throat. "What of our rules of engagement, sir?"

Zanni looked to the sky, traced the crescent curve of his mask with one finger. "My dear Admiral, those rules are null and void when dealing with gods and monsters."


	8. Truth

Sonic was only a little surprised to find himself sitting in his apartment. Sally and Paula displayed a more appropriate reaction. After the shouting and crying subsided, Sonic told them the story.

Sally hugged him. "Lazer's a POW, huh? At least they didn't Roboticize him!"

Sonic didn't want to, but he laughed anyway. It was either that or cry, but he didn't want to upset his daughter. He held open both arms, and Paula jumped onto him, shoving her mom aside. The tension drained out of him under her slight, warm weight.

"I hate this war."

"Because you can't win, Daddy?"

"No, because I can't even _fight._ When I fight an enemy I'm supposed to trade punches and kicks until one of us goes down! Not get swatted like a fly!"

"They're faster than you?"

"Shielded. Nothing is faster than your old man. If they played fair..."

Sally snickered. "Oh yes, ask the nice alien invaders to put down their defenses and play fair. That'll work."

Sonic and Sally made a few calls. They learned that Tails was recuperating in the New Mobotropolis Hospital, and that the rest of the Mobian army had all been teleported to their homes, just like Sonic had been.

"I can't believe he read all our minds - thousands of us - and knew exactly where to send each of us," Sonic said, stroking Paula's hair. "He even put the tanks and giant robots back in their hangars, not a scratch on them."

Sally whistled. "He's mocking us. He isn't afraid of our Chaos magic or our military."

Paula buried her face in her Daddy's chest. "He's scary."

"Yeah, he is. What's he gonna do next?"

888

"I told you to go home."

"We're not leaving you, boss."

Zanni grunted. Conley may be a brute, but he was loyal - as were they all; his champions. Not by force but by choice. And freedom mattered to the Terran race, when snuffing out a star was as easy for them as turning over in bed. Dark Tech seemed to have no limits...

"This feels like the place."

Zanni and his three followers stood outside a palatial mansion. It had been bombed out during the war - a war Zanni ended yesterday - but the structure retained its magnificence. It was a broken and burnt colossus straddling the remains of Mercia city.

Zanni lifted one hand. "I am enforcing 'Purple Eyes' Protocol."

Mun Roe nodded. "Believe nothing we experience with our bodies or minds."

Zamhareer cleared his throat. "Reality bender?"

"I am the Harlequin. I don't need Dark Tech to warp the universe to my liking. If someone is posturing with _that_ title, I expect nothing less."

Conley punched his fists together. "Kill him twice, boss."

Even Mun Roe had to stop at that. "Twice?"

Zanni chuckled. "Reality benders die twice: first you make them believe that they're dead, then you actually kill them."

Mun Roe shuddered. He was a man of science; not mind games. That was his leader's domain, and he could keep it.

Zanni pressed one hand against the old wood of the front door. "Tower raid. Diamond formation. Go."

The door flew inward, smashed to splinters against the far wall. Then the four Terrans were inside: Zanni taking point, Conley and Zamhareer flanking him, and Mun Roe bringing up the rear. They did not take the stairs but took a synchronised leap onto the second floor landing, continuing their relentless jumps upward to each new floor. The mansion was quiet. On the fifth and highest floor, only large double doors greeted them.

Zanni held up one hand. "He is on the observation deck. No company. Thank you for your service, gentlemen."

Zamhareer snapped his fingers. "Aw, I was all psyched up, too."

"Enact 'Legacy' Protocol should I not return."

Mun Roe saluted. "Yes, sir."

Conley harrumphed. "We won't need it."

His three champions tilted their heads, then were gone in flashes of blue and white light. Then he was alone. He opened these doors with a gentle push.

There stood the Mobius Harlequin, playing a fiddle in the pale moonlight with the starry canopy as his audience.

The Terran Harlequin walked forward, the haunting strains of music making his heart ache with a forgotten sorrow. "You faker."

The Mobius Harlequin turned his head, the black and white mask regarding the rude home intruder with a single, glowing blue eye.

 _"Good evening,"_ he said by way of greeting, his voice blending with the violin's, as if calling from an unfathomable distance. _"You are welcome here."_

"You have terrorised the natives of this world long enough. Now die."

Both of Zanni's hands emitted viridian light, his shining fingers writing the bizarre language capable of warping the cosmos. With these runes he had lifted his entire species to godhood. He could just as easily kill gods as create them!

The Mobius Harlequin stopped playing. He swept away the green runes with a wave of his hand.

"Impossible!" Zanni gasped, retreating to the threshold.

The Mobius Harlequin stepped forward, tugging the corners of his black gloves. His cyclopean blue eye penetrated Zanni like a lance.

 _"You have learned some voodoo, but they are not my runes._ This _is a rune."_

So said, so done: he wrote a perfectly formed rune in glowing blue lines. It hung there in midair, a masterpiece against the canvas of the universe. He spoke its name softly, _"Escape."_

Zanni found himself and his enemy standing on the lip of a crater. He looked up: the stars were different. Zanni panicked, because he knew where they were. "Terra!"

The Mobius Harlequin walked down into the crater, to the large humanoid shape at its centre. _"So this is how you learned that voodoo. You are a child playing with a toy."_

"I- I am the Harlequin!"

 _"No, you are a mocking pretender. Before your world spiraled as a molten lump out of your star Sol, before Sol was birthed from its accretion disc, I trod the galaxies while they were yet young. I saw the lights of a million stars upon a million planets before life crawled out of the oceans and took its first gasping breath. You? You are a child."_

The Harlequin waved his hand, the rune dissolved and they were standing upon the observation deck once more. He walked towards Zanni, violin cradled in the crook of one arm, the bow held in the other. Zanni stood ramrod straight, his fingers almost cracking from the strain of his fists. What does one do when the Abyss approaches? The Harlequin touched bow to strings, and the poignant melody swirled around Zanni with his words.

 _"I will break you with the very mortals you dismissed. Their small strength is greater than yours, because they understand the truth. Perform your role well. I am watching."_

A short, sharp gust of wind, and the Harlequin was gone, and with him his music. Zanni was alone and silent atop a broken mansion within a ruined city.

888

Sonic skidded to a halt outside the hospital. He did not so much enter the building as appear at the reception desk. When she recovered from her surprise, he spoke to the nurse there. She shook her head. "He discharged himself a few minutes ago, sir."

A few seconds later Sonic arrived at Tails's workshop. He took the elevator down. He felt lost, and other than his immediate family, Tails was his only anchor. And there was a storm brewing. The elevator doors opened to the antiseptic lights, perpetual noise and wind of the vast underground hangar where Tails kept his favourite toys.

"Look at them!"

On the overseer's catwalk, Tails was making wild gestures at the giant robots lined up below across several acres. They were his babies. His assistants were making worried noises all over the place, trying to find work to do at the computer terminals and repair stations.

"He didn't even fight us! Just sent us to detention!"

Sonic walked forward. "Little buddy..."

"And he took Lazer like a tourist picking up a souvenir at a gift shop!"

Sonic rested a paw on the fox's shoulder. It was a paw that could punch clear through solid steel, but now it was doing the much more difficult job of reassuring a friend. "Little buddy, we're all scared."

Tails jerked his head around, despair and pain blazing from his face. The sight of it struck Sonic like a fist. "You know what really scares me, Sonic? Two of my assistants were having lunch on one of these hundreds of docking platforms. Zanni teleported in the entire giant robot army, landing every single one of them perfectly onto their docking clamps."

Sonic's eyes widened. "So he was lying about not killing, then. He telefragged them?"

Tails shook his head. "No, Sonic. My assistants found themselves sitting three hundred metres away in the mess hall - where they _should_ have been - when the robots appeared. He even teleported their sandwiches, and placed them neatly on the table in front of them. We're under over a hundred metres of concrete and rock, Sonic, but he knows _everything_ about us! We have no secrets." Tails buried his face in his paws. "He could have teleported us and the Mobian army into outer space. Into the Sun. He chose not to. What does it mean?"

Sonic scuffed his shoes. "I'm worried he's gonna turn Lazer into one of those freaks we fought."

"Don't change the topic. Okay, fine, let's change the topic. Why did Lazer give us his power?"

"I dunno, little buddy. I felt stronger for a little while but then it went away. It didn't help much."

Tails shook his head, stepped over and placed a paw on Sonic's forehead. "I give you sight beyond sight."

The world as Sonic understood it vanished from his senses. He and Tails hovered alone in a near infinite void of utter darkness. A shining presence tugged at his senses. Sonic looked upward to the south, and there was a huge knot of light hanging in the sky a few hundred kilometres away.

Tails was the guide in this strange universe. "That's Angel Island. What you're seeing is the Master Emerald. Now find the Super Emeralds."

Sonic followed the strange tugging sensation to look higher, into outer space: there they were! Seven smaller points of light, no doubt aboard seven Terran starships.

"Whoa. You always see Mobius like this?"

"No, I call it Chaos Vision. Now look at me."

Sonic recognised the lesser Chaos Emerald woven into one of the gloves Tails wore. Its light was pale in comparison to the glory of the Master so far away. Then his gaze shifted and he did a double take: two _more_ points of light shone from within the fox's body!

"You're joking!"

Tails laughed. "As a philosopher said, look inward for answers."

Sonic first took in the soft glow of the lesser Emerald woven into his own glove, then leaped backward when he saw _three_ points of light burning within. The four lights moved with him.

"Four plus three, huh?"

"We can go Super anytime."

Tails removed his paw. The regularly scheduled universe flooded Sonic's senses, leaving him dizzy and shaking. Tails caught him before he fell over.

"It's like being born. Do I still have feet?"

Tails nodded. "Check and check. Don't barf."

Sonic's eyes crossed. "Urp!"

Tails leaned back, threatening to drop him. "I'm warning you."

Sonic took a few quick deep breaths. "Phew. All better now. Little buddy, who'd you learn that from?"

Tails let go, allowing Sonic to regain his balance and dignity. "I didn't spend all those years just calibrating engines. I also calibrated myself," he said with a smirk, thumb on chest.

Sonic snickered.

Tails blinked. "What?"

The air and their fur vibrated. It wasn't the mundane motion of machinery. The low sound thrummed outwardly and inwardly. Sonic and Tails plugged their ears, but it didn't help.

The sound became a voice. **"Hello dear friend, stay with me to the end."**

"KNUX?"

"Mr. Knuckles?"

 **"It is I, the one who rides in the sky."**

"Knux why are you talking funny?"

"In iambic pentametre no less?"

 **"Come to the Island, it shall be most grand."**

"Knux, talk properly!"

"We'll be with you in a moment, Mr. Knuckles."


	9. History

Without further ado, Tails used Chaos Control to warp them both through time and space. The pair landed somewhere in the vast desert of Sandopolis Zone, which itself was merely a small part of the floating continent of Angel Island.

Knuckles the Echidna sat upon a crumbling rock throne, the fruitless sand swirling about his ankles. He wore a simple leather necklace on which a tiny green jewel swayed.

"The pieces fall in place. Now for the race," he said.

Sonic wagged a finger. "Still don't get you, Knux."

Tails pulled his goggles down over his eyes, shielding them from the desert wind. "You'd talk funny too, if you had the Master Emerald on you all the time."

Sonic squinted at the green jewel, hardly bigger than a marble. "Chaos Control, huh?"

"He _is_ its Guardian."

Knuckles slouched on his dry throne, elbow on an armrest, cheek in paw. "I have a devious plan to save the land. Master calls the Seven down from heaven."

Sonic looked at Tails, shrugging. "Translation?"

Tails nodded. "The Master Emerald can call the Super Emeralds back to Mobius."

Sonic gave a thumbs-up to Knuckles. "Do it, then!"

Knuckles smiled. "You'll run the mazes yet again, my friend. The puzzles shall your strength be, confounding the invaders utterly."

"He means that each Super Emerald will be hidden once more within its native Zone here on Angel Island. It will be a race against the Terrans to solve each Zone's maze..."

"Ain't nobody beaten me in a race yet," Sonic said, the old familiar coolness surging through his body once more. He understood the race. He would win.

"So said, so done. Pray that the race is won!" Knuckles said. He touched the Master Emerald with one paw, then lifted his other paw to the blue cloudless sky.

888

Alarm klaxons sounded across seven Terran ships poised at seven different geostationary orbits around Mobius.

Captain one, "Dark Hold is failing!"

Captain two, "Structural integrity compromised!"

Captain three, "We have to jettison the cargo!"

Mun Roe's voice was heard on all seven ships. _"What in blazes is happening?"_

Captain four, "Admiral, each piece of cargo is generating a gravity well that grows by the second!"

Captain five, "Twelve trillion... thirteen trillion... it's like trying to transport a small moon!"

Captain six, "If we draw any more power from the space-time continuum..."

Mun Roe bit back a curse. _"Release the Dark Hold, NOW!"_

The Dark Tech dimensional anchors - which could easily make mountains float - were switched off across all seven ships.

Then the seven Super Emeralds punched seven holes in the Terran ships, falling towards Mobius as seven shooting stars. The Terran ships almost immediately repaired themselves, the metal folding in on itself and knitting together like living flesh.

Captain seven, "This is the first time natives have ever damaged our ships."

888

Lazer opened his eyes to the soft lighting of the emergency room. There were seven small human faces around him. Three boys, four girls.

"He woke up!"

Zamhareer and Mun Roe stood behind the children. Beside the red man there was a woman with dark hair, and beside the short man there was a woman with blonde hair down to her waist.

Zamhareer cleared his throat. "Children, say hello to the native."

Lazer received seven shy/curious/amazed hello's.

"Hello," he said in return. "Are these your fathers and mothers?"

"Yes!"

"He can speak!"

"He's so small!'

"He's..."

"Shush," Mun Roe said, silencing the group at a word. He looked at the red hedgehog. "Yes, these are our families. These are who we fight for."

Lazer sat up in the bed. He checked his chest: not even a scar. He felt strong, too. No drugs. He nodded to the small Terrans. "I only have one son, myself. I am jealous."

A chorus of giggles and small hands reaching out to touch his fur and quills. One of them yelped and then sucked his finger.

"He's sharp!"

"His fur's really short, but nice!"

"Can we keep him?"

"No, we cannot keep the native," said the dark haired woman. She offered Lazer a slight bow, her yellow eyes reminding him of a wolf. "Is it well with you, little brother?"

Lazer smirked. "It is well with me, but I do not believe we share ancestors."

A minute later the entire group, including Lazer, was outside and walking the streets of the new Terran city. The desert sun blazed overhead but it did not feel as hot as it should be. The air was pleasant; not too dry either. Lazer stared around him at the tree-lined avenues, the green flowering parks, the quaint homesteads beside soaring office buildings. Here, technology and life were in perfect harmony. Neither imposed on the other. Lazer was surprised to see Mobians mingling with the Terrans walking the streets, at peace with each other. It was a vision of paradise.

"These are the Mobians you collected from Mercia?" Lazer asked, brushing past an old greyhound having a familiar conversation with a human.

"Yes," the blonde haired woman replied. "A week ago they were scared, desperate soldiers fighting for their lives. Now all they desire is peace."

Lazer shook his head. He stopped walking. The Mobians and Terrans did not seem to be under mind control. They looked happy - the genuine happiness that comes from freedom and friendships. Even so... "This place feels wrong," Lazer concluded. "All of it... designed. No natural growth."

"That is why we colonise," the blonde haired woman said, her long golden locks tossing in the wind as she walked. "We seek harmony with Nature; not domination over it. There is no joy, no true relationship or peace to be found in absolute control."

"Let me show you something," one of the older children cried out, running to the door of the nearest cottage. The little house looked so out of place, like someone had transplanted it out of history. The group moved through the door, and through it there was not a little room, but a vast palatial estate.

Lazer blinked. Behind him there was the outline of a doorway. He scuttled around it in circles, drawing further giggles from the children. The doorway was completely two-dimensional; a hole or portal in time and space. Scratching his head, he looked around. They were in the centre of the palace gardens, with a short paved path leading to the ornate double-doors of the massive structure.

"Is this an illusion?"

"It is real," the dark haired woman said. "We are inside a pocket dimension. Every Terran - and there are trillions of us - on every planet we live, has one of these. Here we may build as we see fit. Some of us live in palaces, such as this. Others live in apartment buildings - not because they are poor, but because they choose to. Others live on a mountain, or in a forest, a cave, a desert... you name it."

"This is completely impossible," Lazer protested. "Where do you get the power to maintain all of them, across worlds?"

"Dark Tech," Zamhareer said, unable to hide his smugness. "We draw from the cosmos itself."

"It lead to our first tragedy," the blonde haired woman said, holding Mun Roe's hand. They both bowed their heads. Even the children looked glum. "The death of our local star, Sol."

A minute later they were inside another pocket dimension, but this one was a planetarium. Lazer sat with the group on the recliners which were way too big for him. The lights winked off, then all above them was a flawless three-dimensional reconstruction of the solar system the Terrans called mother.

"Our birth planet, Terra," one of the children said, pointing. "We first knew ourselves there, then we knew the cosmos. We spent a lot of time at war with each other and worrying about the future. Then the miracle man appeared..."

"Zanni," Lazer guessed. The child nodded.

"Our Earth Harlequin. One by one, he ended all wars, whether we liked it or not. Then he showed the world how to use the energy of the universe. We thought our problems were solved, but we were greedy, and used the new energy source for war..."

The picture zoomed in to show fleets of starships engaged in combat above the moon orbiting Terra. Their weapons grew more and more powerful, until a final burst scorched the moon, shattering it, destroying every ship within range. Lazer looked again, and noticed that there had been glittering cities covering the surface of the moon.

"Why didn't Zanni stop that war?" he whispered.

"He was busy stopping wars on Terra. Our planet survived, but entire continents were glassed. Not even he can be everywhere at once. When Luna died, she took fourteen billion with her," Zamhareer said, his words veined with ice. "Not even he could save everyone."

Lazer shuddered. More than the population of Mobius, stuffed onto one moon with dimensional pockets. How many planets did the Terrans own, now? How many moons?

Mun Roe picked up the sad story. "Soon after, our local star grew dark. We had consumed too much energy too quickly in our wars. Terra began to freeze. We abandoned it, but many remained behind, building enormous biodomes to ward off the deadly cold. They wished to atone for their sins. The rest of us... well, this our twelfth planetary colonial attempt."

The lights came back on. Everyone stood up. Two of the children helped Lazer out of the relatively huge recliner. They really liked him. He made them feel big.

"You can remove us from your world any time you wish. Just wave that magic sword of yours and poof, we're ash. Why don't you?" Zamhareer asked point blank.

Lazer looked around at the Terran children. The question stood in their eyes, too. They were so young yet they understood death.

To answer, Lazer gestured to the children themselves. "If I killed someone, it would only send this message: _'I want to kill others.'_ I do not wish to send that message to any person, of any species, of any planet. I only desire peace. Peace cannot be nurtured on dark and bloody battlefields. Peace only grows in the garden of life and freedom."

"You're naive," Zamhareer sneered.

Lazer looked at him. "I am a father."

Zamhareer had to look away. He was a father, too.

Lazer glanced at the three kids clinging to the red man and the dark haired woman. He looked between the adults and children twice before one of them took the hint.

"We can alter our bodies," the dark haired woman explained. "Would you like to see what Zam looked like before he joined the military?"

'Zam' facepalmed. "Please don't."

The dark haired woman made a small gesture with her hand. With a flash of blue and white light, what appeared to be a very large wristwatch appeared on her slender arm. It took up half her forearm and projected a holographic display that read, "Personal Tech Online." She held it up to Zam and moved her elegant fingers along the projected touch screen. Then the man glowed with the same blue and white radiance.

Lazer stood back to take in the view. "That's a neat trick."

Gone were Zam's brick red skin, long blue hair and disturbing white eyes. He now had dark brown skin, short brown hair and brown eyes that weren't alarming in the least. His children laughed, as did the dark haired woman.

"You changed so many things with the click of a button?"

"Oh, no. I'm projecting a hologram over him. Body modification of his calibre takes a few days."

"Mommy, I want to be red!"

"I want horns!"

"I want a tail!"

"Not until you're eighteen," she said with the pleasant firmness only a mother could. She wiggled her fingers and the Personal Tech disappeared from her arm. Zam's usual devilish appearance returned.

"Awww!"

Lazer turned to see Mun Roe and his family smiling at the scene. Then it struck the red hedgehog: these were only people. Yes, they were human aliens who had technology that was indistinguishable from magic, but they loved their children, too. They were no different from the other hedgehogs, wolves, bears, cats and rabbits that lived on his street, or the native humans who lived in the same city.

"I wish there were a way to live in peace without having to disrupt the peoples of Mobius," Lazer said.

Mun Roe nodded, his face solemn. "Don't we all? Somewhere on the outer rim of the galaxy, Zanni allowed us to colonise our first planet as our governments saw fit. We started with diplomacy, but ended up using lethal force. Half the native inhabitants died, and the other half were placed in reservations. It disturbed Zanni so deeply that he took over all colonisation efforts from then on. Now, the only viable method with minimal casualties is subduing the planet via Dreamspace."

Mun Roe stood aside. Lazer led the group down the road, passing Terrans and Mobians everywhere he went. Here, there was peace.

"How does that work, anyway?"

"Zanni places the world inside a dream where he presents them with a choice. If they choose to join us, they're immediately integrated into our society, as you can see," he said, and waved to the public bustling about the city. "They're given full citizenship within our empire."

Lazer chuckled. "I'm sorry, I associate the word 'empire' with 'evil'. Bad habit from watching too many movies."

Zamhareer snorted. "Many natives think that way."

"Yes, and they are allowed to continue their life outside our cities," Mun Roe continued.

"Hmph. So that's the binary choice, eh? What happens when your cities expand?"

The Admiral shrugged. "By then the rest of the natives accept our way of life."

"And those who don't?"

"They're relocated to pocket dimensions that perfectly mimic their native planet before we arrived."

Lazer allowed anger to enter his voice. "You can't copy a planet's soul."

Mun Roe's face fell. "Yes. We learned that the hard way with the symbiotic natives of our fourth colonial planet. The moment they stepped through the dimension door and it closed, they perished. They can't be separated from their living planet more than a few hundred kilometres. They can't explore space."

Lazer shook his head. "You have such power, yet you understand Life so little."

"It is worrying. However, I trust Zanni to..."

Then the False Harlequin was standing before them. He did not look happy. The children hid behind their parents, even the big ones.


	10. Voodoo

"Zamhareer, take them," Mun Roe said, looking to the Commander with complete trust. The red man nodded, gathering the seven children and two women with his broad arms and leading them off.

"Your small blue and orange friends are clever," Zanni said when they were gone. He was gazing at Lazer intently, the crescent curve of his mask glinting with silver.

Lazer smiled. "What have they done now?"

"You're cheeky; with your Chaos magic you must have sensed..." Zanni began to say, but then his eyes opened wide. "You really don't know! That means..."

"My power is now theirs," Lazer laughed.

"The Super Emeralds have landed on Angel Island," Mun Roe said. "They ripped through our Dark Metal hulls as if they were rice paper."

"So that's the game!" Zanni cried out. "The same as when you warred with a native human called 'Robotnik'..."

"Tell me," Lazer said. "Are your people good at puzzles?"

Zanni waved his gloved hand, then the three of them were standing in a control room, with military personnel scampering everywhere. Lazer looked out the nearest window: stars, with the blue curve of Mobius below. So they were in outer space, aboard a starship, just like that. This area of the ship was dominated by a hologram that showed Super Sonic and Super Tails wending their way through Hydrocity Zone with incredible speed. Chasing them was a single Terran.

The communication officer made his report. "Commander Lall is in pursuit, but..."

Zanni glanced at the image. "She can't keep up with them, even in her native environment!"

Mun Roe tapped his chin with one finger. "Pattern recognition is a simple matter, so why can't she keep up?"

"When the Chaos Emeralds create mazes to hide themselves, they use Life itself as their puzzle. If you aren't in tune with Mobian life; the rhythms and shapes of this world, then it won't matter how intelligent or powerful you are. The late Robotnik learned that the hard way," Lazer said, unable to suppress a grin.

"Life? Life is that mysterious?" Zanni murmured.

Lazer pointed at the image. The Terran chasing them had rage and frustration written all over her face. Her quarry - both of them - were laughing as they blasted through the waterways and canals, leaving her to eat their bubbles. "Call off your people. Sonic and Tails not only understand Mobius better than anyone, but they're the best team, too. When they work together, miracles happen."

The moon-faced man sneered. "So? No matter how much they power up, we are trillions strong. Even if they tear this space fleet apart, we have thousands more. They'll die of old age before they make a dent in our forces."

There was a glint in Lazer's eyes. "They're not interested in killing."

"Then what..."

Mun Roe grabbed Zanni's arm, surprising him. When he turned his head to rebuke his subordinate, he saw that Mun Roe's face was pale with fear.

"Admiral, you are out of line!"

"S-sir," he stammered. "Their magic..."

"You should listen to him," Lazer chuckled.

"Sir, remember their battle with the lich! They can make portals in space-time!"

"Portals for wh-" Zanni began to say, then it struck him. He swiveled on his heel to face Lazer, whose face held a serene smile. "You would attack our planets with your divine weapon?!"

The atmosphere on the command deck froze. The temperature seemed to drop several degrees. All eyes were on the red hedgehog.

"No," Lazer said. "I didn't kill you, did I? However, neither you nor the rest of your species trusts me. I'm an uppity native with a weapon of mass destruction, and that threat is going to hang over your heads for the rest of my life. What are you going to do about it?"

"I should kill you right now," Zanni said, pulling back one of his hands, his fingers poised like five spears. Then he stopped. "But your weapon would save you, as it did in your dreams."

Lazer nodded. "Even if you succeeded, who would R'Thrys choose next? Another Mobian? Or perhaps one of the other uppity natives on your colony planets?"

Zanni shook with rage. "Damn you. I will not be controlled! Admiral!"

Mun Roe snapped to attention. "Sir!"

"I am about to commit several war crimes. I cede all authority to you. Contact the other governments and inform them."

Mun Roe's austere countenance dissolved into anxiety, and as Lazer looked between them, he knew that it was one friend worrying about another.

"Harlequin! Zanni! Retreat _is_ an option! There must be other habitable worlds; we will double our search efforts!"

Zanni shook his head, placing a gloved hand on Mun Roe's shoulder. The men locked eyes.

"I must say goodbye. Take care of your wife and children. Keep Zam in line, and tell Conley to start a family of his own. In the end, I hope you will forgive me."

The False Harlequin turned his attention to Lazer. The moon mask warped into a cold and dreadful smile. "My little red friend, you have sought to rob me of victory; thus, you have dared to take away my freedom. This must not be. I will now hold your world to ransom: either you work for me, or Mobius burns."

Then R'Thrys, the divine greatsword, was in Lazer's paws, its stark white cutting edge against the False Harlequin's throat. The command deck personnel stopped breathing.

"You have convinced me to end your life, Zanni. Please change your mind."

Zanni leaned into the blade. The lightest touch broke the skin of his throat. Blood marked a thin red line onto his pristine black and white suit.

"Yes, that's it; take my head. I have already sent the signal to soldiers who are loyal only to me... present company excluded, of course. If my biorhythms end, my loyal warriors will rain destruction on your planet from light-years away. Even with your Chaos magic and this blessed blade, I bet you won't be able to find them all in time. Now put down your sword."

Lazer complied. Zanni wiped his throat with one finger, and the cut was gone. "In war, quantity always beats quality, Lazer. You work for me now. You don't need that... thing... to carry out my will."

Lazer looked down at the divine weapon. He stared at it for a few seconds, then it was gone. The command deck personnel started breathing again. Zanni took off his gloves, green light dancing between his fingers. He knelt before his enemy. Two more arms erupted from his sides.

Four hands descended upon the red hedgehog. "This is going to hurt, but you will not die. Not until I let you."

Lazer said nothing, but moments later he was screaming. The command deck personnel averted their eyes, some even covering their ears. Mun Roe forced himself to watch: Zanni was carving shining runes into Lazer's flesh, his twenty elegant fingers sliding through the hedgehog's skin and fur like a surgeon's knife. When he stopped a minute later the entire room was awash in an emerald glow, but not from Zanni.

Arcane Lazer was born from the ruins of the red hedgehog. His quills, fur and flesh were burnt black. Through the cracks in his flesh, torrid green light shone with the power of the runic symbols. His eyes were no longer black, but glowed a sickly green, as though dipped in radioactive waste.

Zanni took a step backward, admiring his masterpiece. His twenty fingers dripped blood. "My arcane warrior... RISE."

Arcane Lazer hovered upright. There was no Chaos magic in his body; this vessel was filled with an alien, twisted magic.

"My arcane warrior, seek the Master Emerald. Destroy it."

Arcane Lazer made a gesture with his paw, then disappeared in a flash of jade fire.


	11. Conqueror

Hidden Palace Zone had not changed. Its glassy walls and floor were a rich, deep emerald colour, reflecting the majesty of its crown jewel: the Master Emerald. No longer was it hidden as a pendant, but sat fully revealed on its massive crystal flower dais. Knuckles stood beside it, bathed in its light. He greeted Sonic and Tails when they dashed into the room.

"You took fifteen minutes across seven zones. Why so slow?"

Sonic made wavy gestures with his paws. "Glad you're not picking a rap battle anymore. In Hydrocity this mermaid was chasing us..."

"She didn't have a tail or fins! She was a Terran soldier!" Tails said.

"Yeah, but she moved like the ocean was her playground. She stopped following us after a while, though. We thought it was a trap, but nobody chased us afterward."

Knuckles held out his paws. "The Super Emeralds, please."

Tails placed a paw on Sonic's shoulder. "Chaos Control!"

Seven globes of rainbow light emerged from their bodies, coming to rest in seven crystal flowerbeds around their Master. The eight Ruling Emeralds, reunited!

Knuckles looked around the rainbow-tinted room with a satisfied nod. "It has been some time since we needed the second power level."

Sonic's eyes shone. "Let's do it!"

The trio moved to the Master and touched it. Golden energy flared around them: Super form. Then the seven Super Emeralds joined their might with the Master; seven lines of colour meeting at the centre, then all of Hidden Palace was flooded with light brighter than the stars. The Hyper forms appeared, their bodies utterly consumed by the power. Their bodies flashed red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet in rapid succession, like living strobe lights.

Out of the ether, a flock of flickie birds alighted on Hyper Tails' shoulders. "My flickie friends!" he cried out. "It's been years!"

They tweeted greetings in return, flapping their little wings, their bright eyes adoring him.

Hyper Sonic huffed. "How come we don't get animal familiars?"

"We're not in tune with the life of Mobius like he is," Hyper Knuckles replied. "Innocence, purity of heart... call it what you like. We have a job to do."

Hyper Sonic punched his palm, and the force of it shook all of Hidden Palace. "Fight off the Terran army!"

 _"I think not."_

Green and black flames doused the brilliance of the room, casting all in gloom but the three shining warriors. Arcane Lazer appeared, his terrible aura kindling the air to a boil.

"Red? You're not red anymore!"

Arcane Lazer's mouth moved, but it was Zanni's voice that came out! _"Sonic, Tails, Knuckles._ This _is the vessel of my will. He will_ break _that troublesome power source you cling to."_

Hyper Knuckles placed himself bodily between Arcane Lazer and his target. "False Harlequin! The Master Emerald is the soul of Mobius! Our planet lives and dies with it!"

There was the briefest moment of hesitation. Then Zanni spoke through his vessel, his words heavier: _"Ah, so Mobius is another living planet with symbiotic natives. This type of world... this type of native... is almost impossible to coexist with. We will find another world..."_

"That's right! Go away!" Hyper Tails shouted, his flickie birds chirping defiance.

Arcane Lazer held up a paw. _"...but this one must be disposed of. Your friend's weapon and that power source are threats."_

"Give Red back to us!" Hyper Sonic shouted, charging across the room so quickly that he left afterimages in his wake. Arcane Lazer caught his fist with one paw, the shockwave reverberating for kilometres in all directions. However, the moment the arcane warrior made contact with that supreme Chaos energy, his lurid green eyes flickered, cleared and reverted to their natural coal black colour. He looked around at his friends, a deep sadness marking his face, but then his feet and arms began moving of their own accord. He kicked Hyper Sonic right across the room with one fluid motion, then began moving towards the Master Emerald!

When he spoke, this time it was Lazer's voice, struggling and fighting to speak as though being choked. "Blade with whom I have lived, blade with whom I now die..."

"Stop him!" Hyper Knuckles commanded, storming across the palace floor, throwing a punch that would have knocked a mountain clear off its foundations. Arcane Lazer shifted to one side, caught Hyper Knuckles by the dreadlocks and used the echidna's momentum to throw him into a wall, shaking the entire structure like an earthquake.

"Serve right and justice one last time!" Arcane Lazer said in his own voice, as though wrenching each word from an iron vise. Hyper Tails ordered his flock of flickie birds to attack, and they sailed towards the black and green abomination like guided missiles. Arcane Lazer swept one paw outward, and a pulse of utter doom blasted the flickie birds in all directions as though struck by a tornado.

Arcane Lazer spoke, his voice ripped from his throat: "Seek one last heart of evil. Still one last life of pain!"

Hyper Sonic circled back, spinning through the air as the deadliest rotary blade in all creation. His quills could cut diamond in this form. He tore through Arcane Lazer's body and kept going. Then he stopped midflight to gawk in horror at what he had done. He had never taken life before!

But the horror of bisecting his friend was quickly replaced by a fresh hell: the two halves of Arcane Lazer's body pressed together and became whole! Not even death would set him free. Zanni's words had been true!

The Hyper trio looked on in helpless terror while their friend's paw moved nearer to the Master Emerald, to end all Mobian life. In that last, fatal moment when the False Harlequin stood on the cusp of a hideous victory, Arcane Lazer ended his prayer: "Cut well, my friend. And then, farewell!"

In that infinitesimal moment, the Hidden Palace began to resonate with the sound of a thousand violins. During that tiny drop in the ocean of time, red fire blasted through a wall, engulfed Arcane Lazer, and nailed him to the opposite wall with none other than the divine greatsword, R'Thrys. Its broad blade transfixed its wielder's body. His eyes were clear, and his mouth formed a smile of intense satisfaction. Then his body turned to ash and sifted to the floor. There are some forces against which there is no defense, and Arcane Lazer - though mightier than the champions of Mobius - had just met his end within the holy flames of one such power.

His three friends gathered around the cremation site. They powered down, then only the Master Emerald lit the room with a mournful green glow. R'Thrys had gone dark, still nailed to the wall.

"He wanted this," Tails said quietly. "I read his mind while he was attacking us. Zanni dominated his mind and body, but there's no power in the cosmos that can silence the heart. This was the only way he knew to save Mobius."

"He saved his wife and son," Knuckles said, shaking his head.

Sonic placed a paw over his eyes. "I... I'll tell them. I can do that much."

888

High above, on the command deck of his starship, Zanni screamed with impotent rage. The ship personnel quivered in their boots.

"He should have killed me. Why didn't he? His sacrifice is meaningless!" he frothed at the mouth. Then he turned to face the Admiral.

"Mun! I don't expect you to forgive me, but that planet dies today. When it burns, follow that divine weapon to its new wielder, then kill him or her! It's the only way our species will survive!"

Mun Roe gave him an incredulous look. "You're asking me to resume the campaign of that demon lich, Deomorg? That madness led only to his destruction by the selfsame weapon!"

Zanni said nothing. He just waved an arm and disappeared from sight.

Mun Roe had control of the bridge once more. "This is the Admiral to all ships: protect that planet! DARK AURA!"

Ten thousand times ten thousand starships - so many more than Tails had detected with his comparably primitive instruments - diverted all power to shields. From a distance, Mobius slowly faded from view as inky blackness spread through time and space around it, the Dark Aura covering the blue and green globe.

In outer space, thousands of planet-buster missiles emerged from hyperspace. They came in multiple waves. The first wave ripped through the network of satellites Tails had orbiting Mobius, leaving splintered metal and plastic in their wake. Then the first wave kept going, undamaged and undeterred, towards the shielded planet.

The enormous attack, launched from light-years away by many ships loyal to Zanni, would have reduced the planet to an asteroid belt. The Dark Aura held firm, however, absorbing the all-destroying fury of that geocidal barrage. Thousands of horrendous explosions bloomed bright but were swallowed whole, one wave after another.

Aboard the Terran flagship, the Admiral's imperious voice rang out in the darkness. "Good work everyone, the planet is saved. Now, about that attack: do we have a fix on their points of origin?"

"Working on it now, sir!"

Mun Roe slammed his fist onto the armrest. "Find those traitors and neutralise them. Terrans must be loyal to the species, not to one man!"

888

In New Mobotropolis, within the apartment Sonic and Sally called home, Rebecca and Sally were watching their children play. Then Rebecca cried out, and Sally caught her before she fell. In turn, Paula grabbed Ashlar and supported him. Both mother and son had fallen into a dead faint. Moments later, the sun was replaced by the starless pall of night. Their TV buzzed with static, and Sally could not get a signal on her cellphone. Thankfully, the lights were still working.

"What's happening, Mommy?" Paula said, eyes filling with tears.

"I don't know, honey," Sally said with no less alarm, but her eyes were dry.

Rebecca and Ashlar came around after a few seconds. Rebecca looked into Sally's wide, worried blue eyes.

"I can't feel Lazer anymore," Rebecca whispered, in the most lost tone of voice Sally had ever heard in her life.

"Dad's... gone..." Ashlar sobbed, and Sally's heart about broke in two. Her friend and her son were in a very dark place and she could not reach them with her understanding, so she tried to reach them with her words instead. She sank to the floor with her daughter and the four of them embraced right there on the carpet and tried to talk it out.

After a while, Sally learned that the family shared a psychic connection with Lazer. Even without his Chaos Emeralds, that link remained strong across time and distance. But it had been severed moments ago.

"I heard a voice in the darkness," Rebecca said. "It said, 'I am more...'"

"'I am more than a conqueror,'" Ashlar shouted. Mother and son stared at each other in amazement. They both turned to look at Sally, who now had Paula on her lap.

Mother and daughter seemed on the verge of asking a question, but Rebecca anticipated it, and said, "It wasn't Lazer's voice."


	12. Ultra

Lazer was rather confused to find himself awake in a garden. He was absolutely certain that he had commanded R'Thrys, through his prayer, to take his own life. That sword could not fail. So why was he here? And where was 'here', anyway?

He found his feet. Trees, vines and bushes of every colour and variety spread as far as he could see, laden with flowers and fruit. The air was fragrant with their bounty. There were two human gardeners here, wearing straw sunhats and dirty overalls. They were pruning a rose hedge. One seemed to be middle-aged, but in robust health, and the other, a handsome young fellow, looked so similar to his elder that Lazer thought they must be relatives.

Lazer, never one to be shy, stepped forward and waved. "Hello. I am rather lost."

The gardeners straightened up to look down at the small red hedgehog. They looked between each other, then the younger man spoke. "You're not lost. It is good to see you, Lazer."

His voice carried goodwill but Lazer shook his head. "I don't believe we've met?"

The younger man considered his pruning shears. "You commanded one of my weapons during your life."

Lazer's jaw dropped. "YOU? You're the Throne? Both of you?"

The gardeners laughed, the older man slapping the younger on the shoulder.

The younger man said, "Is that what they call us on Mobius?"

"Introductions, then. This is my son," the elder said, inclining his head to the younger.

"And this is my father," the young man said, thumping his father on the back.

"You're one of - well, the two of you, I mean - one of the cosmic powers! Why did you abandon R'Thrys? It's the loneliest sword I ever held."

The father nodded, looking off into the distance. "Long ago, R'Thrys was part of the Sword of Fire, which guards the Tree of Life. One of my servants sought the Tree for his own means. During the battle that followed, two fragments broke off the fiery brand, and were flung far across the cosmos. It yearned for purpose, and so became the sword that you know. After serving many masters, R'Thrys found you."

Lazer took a minute to process this. He didn't know anything about a Sword of Fire, but he had heard Rebecca teaching Ashlar about the Tree of Life.

"You did not answer my question."

The son smiled. "You're not much for stories, are you? R'Thrys wandered the stars because, when sundered from its mother sword, it gained a new Purpose with you and its many other masters."

"Ah, thank you for telling me. So, what happens now? My apologies. Not used to the whole 'afterlife' thing. My first time, actually."

The father and son looked at each other, then down at Lazer.

"Now that you have passed from life to death, you must face judgement," said the father.

Lazer breathed a sigh of relief. "That's more like it! So, who will judge me? The Ancient Walkers? Destiny? Fate?"

The son shook his head. "When you held R'Thrys, you severed bonds with your native deities. That sword is much more than a weapon; it is an extension of my kingdom. I will judge you."

The young man walked over to a mossy rock and sat upon it. At his touch, the rock became a grand sapphire throne. Lazer expected the youth to undergo an awesome transformation, much like he and his friends Sonic and Tails did, or the Terrans, but the human still looked like a gardener with his dirty clothes, hands and feet.

His father strolled over to the sparkling blue throne, then casually leaned against it near his son's left hand. Then Lazer knew, that the Throne - which was worshiped across galaxies, which had innumerable servants spanning the deep reaches of space and time - was not some pious cosmic entity, alone and aloof, but a family. Lazer, who was a family hedgehog himself, walked forward to stand before the Throne with bold conviction. He did not feel angry, or sad. All that consumed his heart and mind were memories of his wife and son.

The young gardener frowned. "Lazer. You are charged with exacting vengeance for selfish reasons. How do you plead?"

Lazer blinked. Well, Robotnik had not teleported his own nuke into his own fortress. "I deny nothing. I am guilty," he said, bowing his head.

The son and father exchanged glances before the son addressed the little red hedgehog. "Do you have anything to say before I pass judgement?"

Lazer brightened up at that. He even smiled, lifted his head and said, "Yes: I love my wife and son with all my might. I am thankful that I was part of a family again."

The young gardener's frown lifted into a smile. He said, "Then must Justice break her sword, and yield her throne to Mercy: for whoever loves a servant of mine, loves me; and whoever a servant of mine loves, is my beloved as well." He lifted a hand, pointing out of the garden. "Go, and sin no more."

"But before you do," the elder gardener said, "I have a message for my servant."

The son stood from the dazzling throne, which reverted to a plain old mossy rock. Then with the most natural of gestures he and his father sat down beside Lazer to have a chat with him, among the flowers and trees.

888

Sonic, Tails and Knuckles were arguing over their next course of action. The three were still depowered, with the Master Emerald watching over them. Tails appeared to be talking to himself, but he was speaking into an earpiece, conferring with his assistants half a planet away. He cut the connection after a minute, then broke the news.

"Tens of thousands of Terran ships appeared around Mobius."

"I thought there were just eight of them?" Knuckles said.

Tails grimaced. He really did not like playing the role of the primitive species. At least with Robotnik, he had been able to steal and reverse engineer the madman's tech. "Stealth technology, I guess. Now Mobius is covered in... something resembling a forcefield, but we can't see through it, or even bounce signals off it. It absorbs everything including light."

"Some kind of superweapon?" Sonic said.

"Maybe. Whatever it is, we gotta get up there and see for ourselves. Maybe our Hyper forms can break through?"

Sonic smacked his fist into his paw. "I'm with you, little buddy. You coming, Knux?"

Knuckles, however, was distracted by movements on the floor. "His ashes."

Sonic and Tails took four steps back with Knuckles, their eyes growing wider with each step. Lazer's ashes were swirling as though caught in a miniature tornado. Then red fire burst from the centre, spreading outward into arms, legs, torso and quills. The crimson flame formed a mouth, nose, and ears. Then his eyes opened. The blazing fires within them looked first at Tails, then Sonic and Knuckles.

It spoke with Lazer's voice, a voice they never expected to hear again. "My friends, I have been given a new Purpose."

The hedgehog-shaped inferno touched the greatsword R'Thrys. Its dark, empty red gems sparked into diamond-bright life, tracing brilliant lines of fire along the hilt, cross-guard and white-black blade. Even Sonic, Tails and Knuckles could feel the massive surge of joy emanating from the divine weapon in waves, and they knew that this sword was somehow alive, like its master. He pulled it from the wall, giving it a good swish.

With his other paw, Lazer reached out to his friends. "I believe this is the part where we join paws."

Tails took the offered paw. "It's so good to see you again, Mr. Lazer," Tails said, then nodded at Sonic and Knuckles. "Ready?"

Sonic took Tails' paw. "Ready, little buddy!"

Knuckles took Sonic's paw. "I will follow you."

Tails grinned. He didn't know what would happen next. All bets were off. All logic ended. A new story began with his words: "CHAOS CONTROL!"

Eternities collided. Destiny, Fate, the Ancient Walkers - deities of Chaos magic - joined with the Throne - deity of divine fire, to make a new creation. Angel Island, floating serene above Mobius, gave birth to the new life. One purpose united the four, who soared upward through total darkness and broke through, scattering the fleet of Terran starships across the planetary horizon.

888

There was bedlam on the Terran flagship. Even Mun Roe had lost his composure.

"What was that?!" he demanded, struggling to regain his captain's chair. His fancy hat was askew, hanging off his left ear.

"The Dark Aura is down, against our will. It just stopped, and vanished. Our instruments cannot interpret the data, sir," said a bridge officer, shaking her head at the readings on her console. "They look like four natives, but their energy output surpasses that of our Fleet by orders of magnitude that have yet to find expression in mathematical notation."

"A power beyond Dark Energy? Beyond Dark Matter?" Mun Roe sputtered, thudding into his chair, fixing the hat on his head. "What power is beyond the entire universe?!"

"I don't know, sir, but somehow the universe is containing it. It's like watching a drop of water contain a thermonuclear detonation!"

The colour drained from Mun Roe's face. This scenario was not anticipated by regulation. Every Terran scientist had agreed that Dark Matter/Energy was the last word in innovation, because together with visible matter/energy, it accounted for one hundred percent of all available mass and energy in the universe. Yet here were four natives - natives of a planet far more primitive than Terra - who were breaking every law of thermodynamics ever written. By all accounts, by all logic, the universe would in the next moment explode like an ice cube touching a pyroclastic flow, unable to contain the stupendous power expressed before them.

"This is the end," Mun Roe whispered. "The end of everything."

A voice echoed in all their minds. _"No,"_ it said, _"you will see yet greater wonders than these."_


	13. Rebirth

Ultra Lazer turned to Ultra Tails. "Did you just talk to their entire fleet at once?"

Ultra Tails laughed, divine fire and Chaos energy flashing from his twin tail tips in the vacuum of space. "Yep! You can do it, too. Any of us can. There's no difference among us anymore."

"We have your brains," Ultra Sonic said to the fox.

"Your speed," Ultra Knuckles said to the blue hedgehog.

"Your strength," Ultra Lazer said to the echidna.

"And your focus," Ultra Tails said to the red hedgehog. "What do we do with it? We can destroy their armies, everywhere in the galaxy," he said, his blazing eyes widening in wonder. "We can _create_ galaxies."

"Killing would be cruel," Ultra Knuckles said.

Ultra Lazer reached out with one paw. His mind expanded to fill the cosmos. He was searching for their common foe... no, he wasn't on this planet... no, not by that star, either... ah-ha! There he was, hiding on a moon. "Yes. There is a better way."

An instant later, Zanni the False Harlequin popped into existence before them, the fabric of space-time rippling around his body. He looked around in surprise. "You summoned me. Dragged me across the galaxy like a petulant child."

"Your words," Ultra Sonic snickered.

Zanni whirled about, his crescent moon mask warping with rage and fear. "How are you alive?!" he shouted at Ultra Lazer. "And this power you all have? It is beyond imagining! And my imagination conquers worlds!"

"Come with us," Ultra Knuckles said, then raised one paw.

888

The scene before them changed to a dark solar system. Along with them came the entire Terran fleet that had been orbiting Mobius a second ago.

Aboard the flagship, Mun Roe did not even need to consult the star charts. "We're home," he said in awe. There was Sol, their mother star, silent and still. And the third planet... Terra.

"This is the cradle of your species," Ultra Knuckles said, his fists crackling with flames as he gestured to the False Harlequin. "You were meant to die here."

"No, no. We lived," Zanni whispered.

"You cheated death with one of the Harlequin's toys," Ultra Tails said. He lifted one paw, then the five of them were on the frozen surface of Terra. There was no wind, because the oxygen and nitrogen forming the atmosphere had become ice without the warmth of Sol. The five of them were beyond physical needs, speaking through their minds, and the entire Terran fleet saw and heard what they did through their will.

"How is this thing a toy?" Ultra Sonic asked, kicking ice away from the huge golem that towered above them. The light pouring from their bodies lit up the area around the giant.

Ultra Tails walked over to its enormous foot. The golem appeared to be made of rock, but no mere rock could have survived thousands of tons of ice creeping into its crevices without bursting. The fox held up one claw to draw a wide, perfect circle in midair, tracing a single line of sharp blue light, eliciting a shocked gasp from Zanni.

"A true rune," he uttered.

 _"Vain,"_ Ultra Tails pronounced the rune, his voice reverberating through what we perceive to be reality. The ice mountain shattered into billions of shards that flew in all directions. The divine fire kept the five safe, however, even though Zanni cringed.

Free of its prison, the golem awoke, its eyes flaring to bright blue life. The blue fire streamed from its head to its chest, arms and legs. It stood, then went down on one knee before Ultra Tails.

 **"You are not my Master, yet you know one of his runes,"** the colossal construct said, its deep voice rattling their minds.

"His Master?" Ultra Sonic asked.

"The True Harlequin, who lives on Mobius," Ultra Tails replied.

Ultra Knuckles shook his head. "I can't keep track of all these gods."

"It's a big universe," Ultra Lazer shrugged.

Ultra Tails took a moment to compose himself, then asked the golem, "What is your function?"

The giant stood up, pointing one massive finger to the stars. **"In order to hasten his design, the Master tasked me with building solar systems. I gathered dust to initiate fusion, then collected material from the newborn stars to fashion planets. To each planet, I gave the spark of life."**

"What went wrong?"

 **"I was broken,"** the golem said simply, turning its massive body to the side: its left arm was shattered, missing below the elbow. **"I attempted to build a binary star system, but the twin stars collided, ending in a supernova. I regained consciousness on this planet, where that human found me,"** he said, pointing at Zanni.

"I asked him to teach me the wonders of the universe," Zanni said with a small smile, patting the golem's gigantic foot fondly. "He wanted to teach me the true runes, but I was not willing to risk my life. They are a divine language. Mortals who write them, have a fifty-percent chance of dying instantly. So I commanded the brute to teach me words of power instead."

"That voodoo you do," Ultra Knuckles said.

Zanni nodded, tracing green light with his fingers. It formed strange shapes and symbols, dancing in the cold silence. "It is a lesser language, but gives me the might of a god. I taught my species how to control darkness itself, then we reached for the stars..."

"But the stars were already inhabited," Ultra Sonic growled. "And you pushed folks out of their rightful homes."

 **"My children are often at odds,"** the golem said, looking to the stars, its fiery blue eyes dimmed.

"That ends today," Ultra Lazer said, hovering upward to place a paw on Zanni's shoulder. "There will be no more genocide. There will be peace."

Zanni slowly turned his head to his nemesis. He considered the blazing fires within those eyes. "Peace through death, is it?"

"No. Hear me, Terrans: there will be freedom. You will find dignity and live in brotherhood with the planets you control."

"And why should we do that?" Zanni asked in a soft voice, his moon mask reflecting that celestial furnace.

"I forgive you."

"What?"

"I forgive everything you have done. Death cannot win. I understand that, now."

Zanni emitted a giggle, which grew into a full-throated guffaw. "Shiny as you are, you are not a god. You cannot forgive sins."

Ultra Lazer smiled. "I am not the one who chooses to redeem. Which is easier, Zanni? To offer forgiveness, or command the sun to rise?"

Zanni was very, very quiet for a moment. "Sol is dead. She has been dead for hundreds of years."

"I agree. She was dead eight minutes ago."

Then he floated to the ground, walked a little distance and turned to the east.

Aboard the flagship bridge there was complete silence. The frightened crew was looking to their Admiral for guidance, but the man seemed crushed into his captain's chair. He was the first to see it: a light. A beautiful yellow beam of light cresting Terra's horizon. Mun Roe gave a shout, leaping to his feet. As one, the crew swiveled their heads to the viewport. Then there was pandemonium. How the communication channels roared! What shouts of joy rent the air on every Terran ship, as the light flamed forth and stretched up! What tears of gratitude filled every eye! And as Sol rose gloriously above the horizon, all crew members locked themselves in embrace, and the whole fleet was intoxicated with gladness, and burst into every extravagant celebration.

Mun Roe lifted his head from the wild embraces of the bridge crew. He was inspired. "Computer!"

 _"Working,"_ the pleasant female voice said.

"Begin a new calendar. Name the first day of the first month, 'The Resurrection of the Sun'!"

888

"So what happens now?" Ultra Sonic asked his little buddy, mussing the hair on his head.

Ultra Tails took the roughhousing in stride. He glanced over his best friend's shoulder. "Now the True Harlequin must collect his debt."

Everyone turned their heads to see a figure in black and white standing nearby. There had been no sound, no movement to herald his arrival. Zanni let out a shriek and pressed himself against the stony foot of the golem. But the golem dropped to both knees then bowed its head. It tried to bring its hands together but only had its right. Realising this, it placed its lone hand over its pulsating blue heart. Everyone stood in its massive shadow, with the sun rising at its back.

 **"Master,"** it rumbled, **"forgive me."**

The True Harlequin walked forward to pat the golem on its colossal round knee. His voice whispered through the shadows, deepening them.

 _"All is forgiven. You have done well, my good and faithful servant."_

The golem's voice trembled with joy. **"I have earned my rest."**

The Harlequin nodded. _"You have. We are already dead, but this planet was not meant to die. Not yet."_

Then he lifted both hands and began to write with all ten fingers, tracing bright blue lines in midair at dizzying speeds. There was rapture on the fox's face to witness such beauty and power in motion. The two hedgehogs and the echidna did not comprehend the artistry. When the rune word was complete, the writer spoke it:

 _"A world reborn."_

Zanni had scrunched himself into a corner, hiding his face from the truth. But even he had to witness Terra's rebirth. The frozen atmosphere exploded into clouds, and everyone fell hundreds of feet to the rocky ground. While the oxygen and nitrogen bubbled upward to form the blue heaven of sky, liquid water flowed around them into rivers, lakes and oceans. Out of the brown and black earth, the colour green thundered forth with pastels of red, yellow and blue plants. It was warm again, with the new sunlight greeting the new day. In the distance, they heard birds chirping.

High above in the fleet, there was not a dry eye among the millions of Terrans who saw the familiar white clouds, blue oceans and green earth return to the face of their homeworld.

On the surface, Zanni found his feet. He stood, placed both hands on his face and pulled off his crescent moon mask. The once-hidden half of his face gleamed with silver skin.

"I tried to do this, long ago. But the world did not change. I also tried to give life to barren moons, but life eluded me."

The True Harlequin placed one gloved hand upon Zanni's shoulder. The man stiffened, as though encased in ice. He could feel that there were only bones inside that glove. A luminescent green mist seeped from his mask and his clothing, swirled into a small vortex above him, then dissolved. Zanni sagged, feeling the weight of mortality on his shoulders once more.

 _"I will visit you in your dreams."_

Then the True Harlequin was gone, and the golem with him. The natives of Mobius powered down now that there was air to breathe. They sucked in the rich aroma of the reawakened planet.

"Never saw sunlight so bright," Knuckles said, shading his eyes from the grandeur of Sol.

"Never smelled flowers so sweet," Lazer said, kneeling beside some gardenias.

"Never felt wind so warm and smooth," Sonic said, holding both arms out into the wandering breeze, his quills swaying as it passed.

"Never heard such happy music," Tails said, his fluffy ears perking at the birdsong filling the area.

"I am home," Zanni said, casting his mask aside. He turned his face to Sol, the silver half reflecting its rays like Luna herself. There were tears. "Your Harlequin took away the magic I borrowed from his servant. I can dream again, but I am doomed."

"He does not know mercy," Tails said, passing his digits over the silky red petals of a rose. "You will never sleep again."

Zanni covered his face with both hands. "Is that all?"

Tails shook his head. "Whatever dreams you have now belong to him. Long ago, when you bound yourself to the golem, you bound yourself to him as well."

Zanni shook from head to foot. His body crumpled like a dry leaf. "I will be a servant... who cannot die."

Tails walked over. Zanni's head was bowed so low that Tails could pat it, like an adult comforting a child. "It is not such a terrible thing. I used his rune, after all. I am bound to him, as you are."

Sonic cried out. "Tails, you're stuck with that corpse dude?"

Tails punched Sonic in the shoulder. The fox's blue eyes were clearer, now. More sure. "It's okay, Sonic. The Harlequin is a dreadful master, but I would rather serve him than our Mobian gods."

Knuckles snorted. "That is blasphemy. You belong to Destiny and Fate!"

Tails looked at Lazer. The red hedgehog coughed and rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't."

The echidna's eyes bugged out. "WHAT?"

Lazer held up his paw and the divine greatsword descended into it. Lazer swept the enormous blade in an arc, resting its edge on the slender grass without harming it. "As the master of R'Thrys, I now serve He who created it: the Throne."

Knuckles looked between his friends: one apologetic, the other not. How strange that the younger one would be more certain! "That old religion? You and Tails have abandoned your gods!"

Sonic and Knuckles were beside themselves with confusion, sorrow and anger. They did not know whether to laugh or cry, to embrace their friends or push them away. How could this have happened?

"I won't see you again?" Sonic said, tears running down his face.

Tails was taken aback. "I'm not going away."

"Good! Because... because I want you around!" Sonic shouted, grabbing the fox by both shoulders. "I want you to be Paula's uncle! And Sally's nephew! And... and my buddy to go on adventures with!"

"Gosh, Sonic," was all Tails could manage, but by then he was crying, too.

Knuckles drew to one side, letting them have a moment of peace. Lazer sat down with the greatsword resting against his shoulder. Zanni said nothing, but walked away, wandering off among the trees. The Mobians let the human go. They knew that he could do no further harm.


	14. Victor

With one use of Chaos Control, the Mobians were standing on their homeworld, specifically in New Mobotropolis. Knuckles and Tails followed Sonic and Lazer to where Sally, Rebecca and their children waited.

There was a prolonged interlude of tears, disgusting quantities of kissing, laughter and hugs during which Knuckles felt very left out, so he looked out of the window. This neighbourhood had towering apartments interspersed with green parks, everything connected by black roads. Knuckles looked down at the normal scene of people walking the streets, talking on their cellphones, catching a cab. It was quite a city, though it was young. Tails had driven it forward with his ideas and technology. Sure, most of the latter was stolen or reverse engineered from Robotnik, but it was being used for good, now.

There was peace, for now.

"Whatcha thinkin' bout, Knux?" Sonic nudged him in the shoulder, his other arm holding Paula.

"Unca Knux," she said, reaching for his dreadlocks. She loved yanking them, so he let her.

"The city's a good place to live," Knuckles said, nodding to the steady movement of life outside the window. "Noisy but sociable."

"You're free to visit whenever you want. You can use Chaos Control, too, ya know!"

Knuckles snorted. "Look at the student thinking he's better than the master."

"Oooh! Ooh, do something cool!" Paula demanded. She was familiar with her dad's rivalry with this particular uncle because their fights always ended with her as the winner.

Knuckles rubbed his paws together, gathering green whorls of Chaos energy into his palms while joyous expectation widened Paula's eyes. Sonic stood there, his eyes half-lidded.

"Your dad can't do this," Knuckles said, and opened his paws to reveal a Chao. The small round creature with its oversized head was white, with the tips of its nubby hands and feet coloured purple. The ball floating over its teardrop-shaped head was purple, too.

Paula let loose a shriek that frightened Sonic. "SHE'S SO CUTE I'M GONNA NAME HER AZZIE!"

"Chao chao!" Azzie burbled with absurd cuteness, wiggling her little hands and feet.

While Paula and Azzie went off to have adventures in the living room, Sonic rolled his eyes at Knuckles.

"You can _create life_ now? Seriously, Knux?"

Knuckles snickered. "That was teleportation, from the nursery me and Julie-Su look after in Mushroom Hill Zone."

Sonic opened his mouth but Knuckles held up one paw. "If you ask when I'm marrying her, I will punch you through this apartment block."

Sonic closed his mouth.

Meanwhile Rebecca and Ashlar were latched onto Lazer as though letting him go would end his existence.

"I'm not a zombie, son."

"You don't smell rotten, dad."

"By the way, the Throne has a message for you both."

Lazer's wife and son looked up at him with round eyes.

"He told me to tell you, 'I am a victor'."

They both were satisfied with that, and hugged him harder. He hugged back just as hard.

"My husband, why did you spare the Terrans? Are they not our enemies?"

"My wife, when I stood on the alien planet Terra, I also stood on a million other alien worlds, all inhabited with life. I looked into the hearts of countless people, and everywhere - _everywhere_ \- I looked, across star systems and galaxies, I found the same thing."

"My husband, what did you find?"

Lazer placed a paw over her heart, and the heart of their son. "The Kingdom is within you."

"And that gave you peace?"

"No, my wife. It gave me perspective: my parents, my friends, all our relatives and neighbours from Xadra await us in the Kingdom. _That_ gives me peace." He kissed her head. "You give me peace."

"So mushy," Ashlar complained with his face buried in his father's side.

Tails broke the stranglehold his aunt Sally had trapped him in for the past few minutes. He breathed, then walked up to Lazer.

"It is time."

Lazer nodded. He set Ashlar and Rebecca down. "This is it."

Knuckles joined them. "I will be your prosecutor."

Sonic stepped up at the last moment. "I'll be your attorney."

Sally, Paula, Rebecca and Ashlar looked at each other with frowns and shrugs all around. Sally asked, "Is there going to be a court hearing?"

"Oh yes, we knew this would happen when Lazer and Tails cut the strings of Fate and wandered off the path of Destiny," Knuckles said with a glimmer in his eyes. "This will be a trial for the ages."

"Can we come?" Rebecca asked.

Knuckles bowed to her. "My dear, it wouldn't be much of a trial without witnesses."


	15. Trial

When they emerged from the aura of Chaos Control, they saw that the courtroom was the throne room of Castle Acorn. The King and Queen were not seated there, however, but were standing with their attendants in the hall. With Paula in tow, Sally ran over to her parents.

"Gramma! Grampa!" Paula said, hugging them hard.

"Angel," the Queen greeted her, placing both paws on her narrow shoulders.

"We have some visitors," the King explained, one paw on Paula's head. "We have yielded our thrones to them."

Sally made little confused noises as she looked between her parents and husband, who was standing to the left of the thrones behind a table. She did a double-take: why were there two tables with a podium between them? She hadn't seen anyone bring the furniture in. Opposite Sonic stood Knuckles, who noticed her dismay.

"You'll have to sit in the gallery, your Highness."

Sally looked again, and there it was - seating behind and above the tables that also covered the great hall, sweeping upward in a half-shell to encompass the room. She turned to speak with her father but found herself sitting just behind Sonic's head, with Paula at her side. Her parents were seated on either side of them. She had neither sensed movement nor time passing. She was there, now she was here!

"Father, who dares claim the thrones?" she finally asked. What sort of fraud would employ such theatrics?

"We dare."

There was an owl and a spider enthroned before them. The horned owl had feathers like newly fallen snow, her piercing green gaze making the Princess feel like a field mouse caught in her sights. The longer Sally stared, the stranger her eyes looked... then she realised that the owl had green triquetras (trinity knots) instead of irises. She shuddered. That was the symbol of Destiny. On the other throne, the black orb weaver had purple eyes, and all eight of them had tiny valknuts (three interlocking triangles) instead of irises. A cold knot settled in the pit of her stomach. That was the symbol of Fate.

"Destiny and Fate... our deities."

"Yes," said the owl, "yours, but not _theirs_."

Everyone in the gallery turned to see Tails and Lazer at the witness stand.

"You are apostates," the spider told them. "You are no longer welcome in this world. Even so, justice must be served, lest we are condemned as tyrants." The spider looked at Sonic. "Is the Defense ready?"

Sonic smoothed back his blue quills. "Ready."

The owl looked at Knuckles.

"Is the Prosecution ready?"

Knuckles cracked his... well, knuckles. "Yes."

"Your opening statement, please."

Knuckles folded his arms and closed his eyes. "The defendants were both born on Mobius. Their native deities are Destiny and Fate. During the recent war with the Terrans, both defendants broke their sacred ties with their homeworld. They are accused of apostasy, the punishment for which is offworld exile."

The owl nodded. "Does the Defense have an opening statement?"

Sonic shook his head. "None, your honours."

In the gallery, Sally rolled her eyes. "You're not even trying, Sonic!"

"The gallery will not heckle the Defense," the spider said.

Sally smirked. She opened her mouth to deliver a charming yet severe rebuttal, but found that his words had _not_ been a request: she had no voice.

While Sally made furious silent gestures, the owl spoke. "Proceed with testimony."

Knuckles gestured to the centre of the courtroom. "The Prosecution calls Tails to the stand."

Lazer stepped aside for Tails to speak. "I am marked for a higher purpose," the teenage fox began, his eyes shining an unnatural electric blue, "where at the end of all things, in the final battle I will stand against the final enemy. The dead shall heed my call, rushing to my aid. My body will be inscribed with the runes of power, and I will remove all obstacles. Then the Harlequin's new world will be complete, and this one shall remain as a prison for the enemy."

The courtroom was silent for a while. Sonic broke the silence with an easy chuckle. "You've changed, little buddy."

Tails took a breath, his eyes returning to their normal sky-blue hue. "They wanted me to say my piece."

The spider interrupted them. "Will the defendant be cross-examined?"

"Unnecessary," Knuckles said, his nose turned up and eyes closed. "He has damned himself with his words."

Sonic shrugged. "Nothing here."

"Step down," the owl commanded.

888

Tails walked away while Lazer approached the stand. When they passed each other, the red hedgehog and orange fox gave each other a little sympathetic smile. Sonic saw their shared moment, and felt more removed than ever from both his friends. When had he become the outsider?

Lazer raised a paw. "I'd like to present evidence."

Knuckles slammed one paw on the table, causing everyone in the gallery to jump. "OBJECTION! The _defendant_ cannot present evidence! _They_ are being tried!"

The spider chuckled. "Overruled."

Lazer held up one paw with palm upturned. The greatsword R'Thrys bloomed there in a fiery blossom, its white and black blade casting light and shadow across Lazer's features as he spoke. "I am not the hand of God. I am no messiah. I was almost destroyed by my sin of vengeance. The love of my wife and child saved me."

In the gallery, Rebecca and Ashlar smiled and waved as he called their names and looked to them.

" _They_ are my strength and refuge, _not this,_ " he said, glancing at the blazing blade. "I found no truth in this weapon. To prove that, I would like to direct the court's attention to the galactic rim."

There was murmuring that the owl silenced. "The court shall see with our eyes."

The eyes of Destiny and Fate shone. Castle Acorn disappeared, replaced by the void of space. There before them all spun the pool of stars Mobius called home: the Milky Way. Beyond its spiral arms, a ring of utter darkness slowly converged upon the galaxy. The vision magnified the anomaly, then everyone saw it was an impossibly huge swarm of winged creatures bearing weapons of war.

Their collective mass should have squeezed the galaxy like a rubber band, but they ignored gravity with the same ease they ate up the light-years separating them from the nearest inhabited planet. Though they lived, they were not born of Nature. No force in this universe had given birth to them. Everyone could sense the hunger and malevolence of the winged warriors bubbling and boiling like the deepest ocean.

"That is a legion of demons, so enormous that there are millions for each planet in our galaxy. _That is just the first wave._ R'Thrys informed me that, when I unlocked the fires of creation to resurrect the Terran star, I also drew the attention of the entire underworld."

Knuckles moved to slam his paw on the table again, but it wasn't there at the moment, so he punched his other paw instead. "TAKE THAT! This defendant not only admits his guilt, but has placed our way of life in danger!"

"HOLD IT!" Sonic yelled, pointing a finger at Knuckles. "The defendant isn't finished speaking!"

Lazer nodded. "Thank you. The demons desire the creative force for themselves. They will, no doubt, slay every living thing in this galaxy to that end. I have no desire to fight them."

Sonic's finger drooped. "Uh."

Lazer stood back to address the divine weapon directly. "R'THRYS! Our contract ended when I died. That I live again is irrelevant." Lazer held up one paw, touching the burning red heart of the sword. "You are free."

The greatsword dimmed its fires for a moment, one glowing spot remaining where Lazer's paw rested, then tongues of flame spewed in every direction. The white and black blade - the blade that unmade armies and sundered the thrones of gods - melted away, light and shadow running together then dissipating into nothingness. The two red jewels that once formed the core and pommel of the greatsword remained. They shot upward to the heavens.

"You have doomed us all," Knuckles whispered. "You were supposed to fight this invasion with that weapon. It is your responsibility. Now everywhere will be at war, forever."

Rebecca and Ashlar, who were looking up to see R'Thrys leave, let out a cry of joy. "It went home!" Ashlar said, pointing with one little digit.

The owl and spider also lifted their heads, and so elevated the sight of all: There, standing above the galactic core, was a man wearing gardening clothes. His hands and overalls were stained with brown dirt and green grass. Lazer laughed when he saw who it was. The very ordinary-looking gardener was holding a double-edged sword in his hands, the blade of which was liquid fire and turned in every direction.

" _The Sword of Fire_ ," Lazer said, "of which my mighty weapon is but a fragment."

The two red jewels of R'Thrys dropped into the empyrean sword, then the whole weapon shone with... joy. No, not the weapon: the one who held it. His face beamed with joy, lending radiance to the sword he held. Then with a graceful flick of the wrist, the gardener struck. The Sword of Fire swung once, blasting a perfect arc of sheer blazing light in all directions. The light neither dimmed nor slowed as it passed through the demonic legion. Peering closer, the court saw that each demon now bore a wound from the edge of a sword, searing their flesh.

A hideous cry of anguish rose from the legion. Among curses innumerable, one was shouted more than any other: _"THE HIGH ENEMY!"_

Reeling, bleeding, burning and swearing retribution, the dark legion vanished one by one until the court could see the stars of their fair home again. The gardener lowered the Sword of Fire. There was an older man standing beside him, now, resting a hand on his shoulder. Looking at their faces and gardening clothes, the family resemblance was unmistakable. They both looked like they had just stood up from planting, and would soon return to their work in the garden.

Lazer nodded. He addressed the judges - the owl and spider - his paws raised in a dramatic arc to present the gardeners: "There is your hand of God! There is your messiah! They understand vengeance far better than I do. I and my household shall continue to follow them."

888

Lazer stepped down from the stand. The owl and spider did not bother to ask for a cross-examination because Knuckles and Sonic were stunned, both of them staring at Lazer as though he would at any moment explode, turn to stone, be cut into pieces, or all three at once.

"We assure the Defense and Prosecution that We shall not smite the defendant for imposing his religious beliefs on the court," the owl said, fluffing her feathers and narrowing her green triquetra eyes. Knuckles and Sonic began breathing again. Lazer offered the judges a gracious bow.

The view of heaven receded, the stars of the galaxy shifting into the stone walls and wooden furniture of Castle Acorn. While most everyone in the gallery was confused and whispering amongst themselves, Rebecca and Ashlar sat staring at the afterimage of the glorious vision with tears running down their faces. Sally noticed this and, always willing to learn new things, asked them if they knew who those deities were.

"They are the Throne," Rebecca replied, dabbing at her eyes with a handkerchief.

"They live in us," Ashlar said with the maddening simplicity only a child could manage.

Sally wisely kept her thoughts to herself. Then she realised she was capable of speaking again.

"You got this, Sonic!" she yelled down. He gave her his signature thumbs-up and cocky grin that made her want to punch him, but nonetheless melted her heart.

The spider rolled all eight of his purple valknut eyes. "If the gallery would permit Us to continue, We shall now sentence the defendants."

"Here it comes," Tails sighed, looking at the two people who formed the core of his entire life. He would miss Mobius, but he'd miss Aunt Sally and Sonic much more.

"I'll miss them too," Lazer said, placing a paw on Tails's shoulder. The orange fox returned a little sad smile.

The spider stood from the throne, waving one of his legs at the defendants. "For the sin of apostasy, the sentence is exile. We are certain that your new gods will provide you both new homes."

"And new families," the owl joined in, also standing with her counterpart.

Family. The word awoke memories in Sonic. His wife Sally holding his paw while they stood on the wings of the Tornado flying into the sunset. The first time he saw their daughter Paula's eyes. They were the colour of the cloudless blue sky, like her mother's. Home, warmth, belonging... he wanted Tails and Lazer to have these as well, but right now he just couldn't see the finish line.

Wait. He wasn't the only family man in this courtroom!

"OBJECTION!" he shouted.

Knuckles was too stupefied to speak, so Fate spoke for him: "The Defense will be silent!"

Sonic opened his mouth again, but his voice was gone. This prompted Sally to stand up for her hubby: "OBJECTION!" she shouted.

"The gallery cannot object!" Fate boomed, the hairs on his eight legs bristling like rows of knives.

"I am curious," Destiny said in a soft voice, placing a snowy white wing upon her counterpart's leg. Her green triquetra eyes were unperturbed by the divine storm broiling beside her. "Let them speak."

Fate rumbled like a thundercloud in summer, but he relented, returning the mortal voices.

Sonic cleared his throat. He could see the finish line now, and he was the best in the world at getting there. "Family!" he said, punctuating the word by slamming his fist on the table. "Your Honours, years ago, we learned of your _third_ family member. A certain dark god who changed everything..."

The mortals did not think it was possible, but there it was: Fate and Destiny with fear written all over their faces.

"Please do not..."

"You cannot mean..."

"I do, Your Honours. I call **THANATOS** to the witness stand!"

888

The light died. At the centre of the courtroom _something_ began to grow before the twin thrones. They all felt it, but they could not see it. It became cold. The shadow opened his eyes. They were neither a complex knot nor interlocking triangles, but simple circles. Red, glowing circles that stared down at the triquetra and valknut that had given birth to him.

"Hello mother. Hello father."

"Son."

"Our son."

Thanatos shifted his red gaze to the mortals around him. "Why am I here?"

"We're about to answer that question," Sonic interjected from somewhere in the darkness. The red eyes settled upon him. Waiting. "Thanatos, years ago my friends and I foiled your attempt to claim Mobius as your own. You almost usurped your own parents."

"Are we here to discuss history?"

"We are! Recently, my friends and I joined our Chaos magic with divine fire, and from that we learned the truth. The sacred flames allowed us to see the source of all Chaos energy in the cosmos: it's _you._ "

There was silent consternation in the courtroom. No-one dared to voice it. They were all shivering, even Fate and Destiny.

Sonic continued. "In the beginning, your parents created and spread Chaos Emeralds everywhere, millions of them in the land, sea and sky of millions of planets including Mobius. Their magical influence caused life to evolve too quickly in our galaxy. Progress outpaced wisdom, leading to war on countless worlds. When you were born, your parents gave you authority over all Chaos Emeralds everywhere. They hoped you'd fix their mistake."

"They were wrong," Thanatos growled.

Sonic snapped his fingers. "Yes. That's it. That's the point. You didn't want that job." He turned to Destiny and Fate, who were mystified that their deepest secrets had been revealed with such a casual tone. "Your Honours, please tell the court what the Ancient Walkers did."

The spider and owl looked at Sonic with both hatred and despair. "We will not," they chorused.

Sonic folded his arms. "Tell them… _or I will."_

Sally fell out of her seat in the gallery and could not find the strength to get back up. Her own husband had just blackmailed her gods.

Fate and Destiny shook with fury. Oh, there would be no more words. There would be smiting. Smiting for days.

A calm voice cut through their haze of righteous indignation. "Mother. Father. You made the Ancient Walkers to carry out the duty I shirked. What have they done?"

In the face of their son, Fate and Destiny stayed their hands. For now. "My child," the owl said, "the Ancient Walkers were designed to limit the destruction mortals could wreak with Chaos magic. Without them, people mad with power would have destroyed Mobius and other planets hundreds of times over. But the Walkers grew weary of their task and they..."

The owl choked, unable to speak.

Thanatos loomed over his parents, the red glint in his eyes growing brighter. "They did _what?_ "

The spider reached out and pulled the owl nearer, as if to protect her with his body. "They made _him_ their substitute!"

Light returned to the courtroom. The mortals could now see Thanatos: a humanoid mass of shadows with two red eyes set deep into his stern face. They could also see the spider's leg pointing directly at Lazer. The red hedgehog in question was just as bewildered as everyone else in the courtroom.

"I'm sorry," Lazer said, "the Ancient Walkers made _me_ their replacement?"

"Yes," Fate said, the resignation in his voice dulling its thunder.

"Then," Sonic said, slamming his table in triumph, "I call the Ancient Walkers to the witness stand!"

Thanatos moved to stand beside Destiny and Fate. Above the witness stand, three huge tribal masks appeared. They were carved with patterns and markings from cultures that walked upon Mobius when the planet was young.

"We have heard the proceedings," the first mask said.

"Our guilt is evident," the second mask said.

"We expect punishment," the third mask said.

"You will first tell our son your crime," the owl commanded.

"Yes, Mother Destiny," the first mask said with a slight bow, turning to the dark god. "Thanatos, as your mother said, we desired freedom. We planned to raise that red hedgehog, Lazer, to our station. However, by altering his timeline, we brought war and death many times over to Mobius. The mad scientist Robotnik, the lich Deomorg, and yourself... so many have died because we craved liberty. Lazer should not exist, and you should not have been exiled as a traitor to your parents."

Things clicked into place in the supernatural mind of Thanatos. He grew larger, looming over the Ancient Walkers like a black, forbidding cliff. The three masks shrank backward, shuddering in his long, long shadow. "I understand now. My personal desire for independence caused my parents to enslave you three. You shaped a mortal into a being of such unnatural power that he attracted death and destruction like steel to a magnet. His aberrant power... drawn from both Chaos magic and the celestial fire of alien gods... forced us all into this meeting, at this moment in time."

"Yes, my Lord," the second mask said with a bow.

"We await your judgement," the third mask said with a shiver.

Thanatos could have destroyed the three of them with one glance from his furious red eyes. He could have reached through space and time itself to pulverise the anomalous mortal named Lazer, removing him from existence before his deviant life warped Mobian history.

But after a few moments, both the Ancient Walkers and Lazer still lived. All eyes were on Thanatos. The dark god lifted one shadowy hand, palm outward. "Erasing you four will not end the cycle. My parents will again enslave other mortals to perform my duty. Their slaves will kick against the goads, fashioning proxies who will only bring death to the world. That is not justice." Thanatos turned to his parents. His physical form grew smaller. The red fire receded from his eyes. He knelt before them, then bent his head. "Mother, father, forgive me."

Tears flowed from jade triquetra eyes and amethyst valknut eyes. The owl and spider hugged their son with legs and wings, gathering him close to them. At their touch the shadows around him burst and dissolved like smoke struck by rainfall. His physical form, that of a bull with great curved horns, emerged from the darkness. It was strange to see tears falling from the red eyes of that giant muscular bovine.

"My first act," Thanatos said in that same terrible voice, "is to free you three servants."

He held up one hoof and the masks began to break apart, the fragments turning to dust that sifted to the floor.

"Thank you, my Lord," the three Ancient Walkers said before their voices disappeared forever.

"It is done," Thanatos intoned, waving his hoof over the dust. "After millennia, they have finally passed into the realm of the dead. Now, about you, little red hedgehog."

The fearsome red gaze found Lazer's black eyes, which were tiny in comparison. The small red hedgehog swallowed, but somehow found the strength to stand. He would at least die on his feet, damn it!

Thanatos smirked, slowly turning his grand horned head to the other tiny red hedgehogs in the gallery. "You and your family are innocent victims of this divine drama. My second act will, by demonstration, pass my judgement over you. I shall do what I should have done billions of years ago."

Thanatos turned around and lumbered out of Castle Acorn.

"I guess court's adjourned," Knuckles muttered and, with everyone else, followed the deity outside.


	16. Freedom

The orange fox and the red hedgehog fell in step with each other during the long walk. That strange kinship born of apostasy still linked them.

Tails was the first to breach the silence. "Those gods you serve, they are the ones who forgave your sins?"

"Yes."

The laconic reply frustrated the fox's prodigious mind, so he pried further. "Years ago, you said that the mark of a god is the power to redeem. Is my Harlequin a god?"

Lazer shrugged. "Did he forgive your sins?"

Tails rolled his eyes. "I'm a fox of science, he is a cosmic entity. How am I supposed to know _his_ mind?"

Lazer stopped walking, then turned to place a paw upon Tails' shoulder. "Listen, Tails. After all our adventures, you know our souls are finite and fragile, easily wounded or even enslaved. The true mark of divinity is not domination, but _healing_ of the soul. The one who heals the soul does not need a throne, or armies, or worlds to conquer, because that one is pleased to build their kingdom within the living soul itself, and _share_ its life. _That_ is true glory."

With that last word, he poked Tails square in the centre of his chest, then turned to observe the dreadful horned deity known as Thanatos.

888

It was high noon outside Castle Acorn. The parapets and towers cast long shadows that were drawn to Thanatos as he strode through the courtyard, his hooves meeting the flagstones with thunder in each step.

"Mother of Chaos, I summon you and your eldest children."

The Master Emerald and the seven Super Emeralds appeared before their Lord, shining with all the colours of the rainbow. He placed one great hoof upon the exquisite green facets of the Master.

There was almost a note of tenderness in his voice. "Too long have your younger children strayed afar. It is time for their homecoming."

Thanatos lifted his powerful arms. The eight Emeralds shone even brighter, so that the mortals gathered there had to shield their eyes.

Across the unknown regions of space and time, Chaos called her children home with eight rays of light that acted as a beacon. This was no ordinary light, but shone straight through and out of the galaxy in an instant, piercing mere matter and disregarding distance. On countless alien worlds, the lesser Emeralds dissolved in the divine light. Whether they were in the sea, deep below the ground, floating in the sky, or bound to some living creature or object, they were liberated. Their essence flew into the beacon beams and followed them to Mobius. They broke through the atmosphere, parted clouds and poured into the red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet Super Emeralds. It was the grandest rainbow Mobius had ever seen, descending from outer space, more dazzling than the local star.

Finally, the seven lesser Emeralds shared between Sonic and Tails dissolved and left their masters to join with their brethren deep in the hearts of the Ruling Emeralds. Then, in all the universe, there were only eight Emeralds remaining. All the forces of Chaos magic swirled within those eight gems.

"It is finished. No more wandering, no more enslavement to mortal kind. Chaos is free once more, by my decree. This is my judgement," the dread horned god said. He turned away from his work to address the champions of Mobius.

"Three of you are the heirs of Chaos itself, but one of you was made a usurper against his will," he said, and pointed one hoof at Lazer. "You were never meant to wield the wild forces of Chaos. Never again will you hear its call. Never again will you draw strength from it."

"I accept your judgement," the little red hedgehog said with a slight bow.

"Then, it is time," the horned god said, turning again to the eight Ruling Emeralds. He waved one hoof towards the sky above. "I set you free!"

The seven Super Emeralds immediately shot upward through the sky and to the stars, each following its own will and its own way. Ever the odd one out, the Master Emerald chose to stay. It shrank in size until it was no larger than an apple, then floated past Thanatos to rest in the large paw of Knuckles. The echidna blinked once, twice, lost for words.

The bull god laughed like a hurricane. "Your role as Guardian continues. Thus Mobius shall continue its role as the homeworld of Chaos itself. This will invite great challenges in your lifetime, but three champions shall rise to meet them."

"Three?" the orb weaver interrupted. "You mean that the apostate fox stays?!"

Sonic and Sally held their breath.

"Yes," Thanatos said in a matter-of-fact tone. "Chaos loves him; he is the apple of my eye. He will work wonders."

Sonic and Sally shouted for joy and tackled Tails to the ground.

"You're not leaving! Oh, thank the gods!" Sally cried, shoving her face into his fuzzy chest tuft.

"We're STILL the best team in the history of Mobius, little buddy!" Sonic cried, mussing up his hair.

"Oh, shucks, you guys," Tails said, but he was crying, too.

While that little mortal drama played out, the owl and the spider brought the red hedgehog before the bull.

"Will he stay, too?" Destiny asked.

"He is innocent," Thanatos replied.

"Thank you," Lazer nodded.

"I do not like these displays of mercy," Fate grumbled.

"It is a terrible thing to break up a family," Thanatos said in a low voice, "apostates or not."

The spider sighed, then nudged the red hedgehog back towards his own. "Go, but do not expect us to answer any prayers."

Lazer smiled and walked away into the waiting arms of his wife and son.

Meanwhile, the owl touched her husband and son with her wings. "Come, let us depart this place. We have much to talk about."

"And much to do," agreed the spider.

"Whatever must be said and done, we will be together," the bull said.

The three deities vanished.

The son of Lazer, the tiny red hedgehog called Ashlar, said to his father, "You did it, Dad. You won without killing anyone."

That truth struck his father like lightning. "My son, this time, _everyone lived."_

Those words opened floodgates, and Lazer wept like a newborn in the arms of his wife and son. They held each other for a long time - long enough for Xadra, for Robotnik, for the Terrans, for all the pain that blew through New Mobotropolis like a desert wind. The healing began.

The other family, however, was trying to understand why one of its members was leaving.

"Little buddy, you don't have to go."

"I must, Sonic. The Terrans need me. If I don't show them the most efficient way to use Dark Energy, they'll just go to war again over resources, and the cycle of violence will continue."

"I still can't believe you figured it out," Sally said.

Tails laughed and tapped the side of his noggin. "When the sacred flame showed me the truth, it also showed me how the universe really works. It's so beautiful, Aunt Sally, I wish I could express it in words. We're all connected, all of us everywhere, and we don't even know it because we never bothered to look."

Sonic thumped Tails on the back. "If you make a Terran girlfriend, I want all the details."

"Sonic!" Sally said, scandalised. The expression on their face made them laugh, so she bonked them both on the head. "Honestly, you rascals, who's going to keep you in line?"

"Dear," the queen called. She and the king held their granddaughter in their arms. "Your child misses you."

"I miss her too," Sally replied, "but her father and uncle are being naughty."

"Naughty Daddy and Unca Tails!" Paula wagged her little finger.

Sonic and Tails bowed to her and said in unison, "Yes, your Majesty."

Paula pealed with laughter and ran to them.

With the awe and wonder of the day's events fresh in their minds, paw in paw, they and the other families left the castle courtyard to return to New Mobotropolis. They had quite a story to tell.

888

END

888


End file.
